West Virginia Code 61-6-1 – Suppression of riots and unlawful assemblages
All members of the West Virginia State Police, the Division of Protective Services, all sheriffs within their respective counties and all mayors within their respective jurisdiction, may suppress riots, routs and unlawful assemblages. It shall be the duty of each of them to go among, or as near as may be with safety, to persons riotously, tumultuously, or unlawfully assembled, and in the name of the law command them to disperse; and if they shall not thereupon immediately and peaceably disperse, such member of the West Virginia State Police, or of the Division of Protective Services, sheriff or mayor giving the command, and any other present, shall command the assistance of all persons present, and of all or any part of other law-enforcement personnel available to him or her, as need be, in arresting and securing those so assembled. If any person present, on being required to give his or her assistance, depart, or fail to obey, he or she shall be deemed a rioter.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 61-6-1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10