Request By:
Lt. Colonel Glen Spivey
Assistant Chief
Winchester Police Department
City Hall
Winchester, Kentucky 40391
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter presenting three questions, the first of which asks whether there is a statute regulating the playing of pool, in pool rooms or in any other facility operated for profit or amusement, on Sunday. You refer to KRS 436.160 which was amended in 1972.
At this point we direct your attention to OAG's 73-211, 75-211 and 72-727, copies enclosed, dealing with the regulation of pool rooms and pool table facilities. Under the so-called "Sunday Closing Law" as amended in 1972, a city or county has the power to authorize, by ordinance, a pool room or pool table facility to remain open on Sunday, but not between the hours of 6:00 A.M. and Noon. In the absence of such an ordinance the state law still prohibits a pool room or pool table facility from remaining open on Sunday. Thus, under the "Sunday Closing Law" (KRS 436.160 and 436.165) as it now exists, the operation on Sunday of a pool room or a pool table facility is not authorized but the statute does give the authority to a city or county to permit such an activity by the enactment of an ordinance. We suggest you contact your city attorney to determine what ordinance, if any, has been enacted concerning this matter.
Your next question asks whether the city officials can require a city police officer to live within the county in which he is employed.
KRS 95.440 provides in part that each member of the police department in cities of the third class shall be a qualified voter in the county containing the city of his employment. However, KRS 15.335 states, "No person shall be disqualified from holding a position as a peace officer by reason of his residence or voting eligibility, except as provided in the Constitution." Furthermore, the case of City of Newport v. Schindler, Ky., 449 S.W.2d 17 (1970), held that a city policeman is not an officer within the meaning of Section 234 of the Kentucky Constitution which requires that a city officer must reside within his city.
Thus, in view of the provisions of KRS 15.335 and the case of City of Newport v. Schindler, Ky., 449 S.W.2d 17 (1970), residential qualifications required of police officers have been removed. A city police officer cannot be required to reside within the city of his employment or the county containing that city although he would have to be a resident of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. See OAG 77-374, copy enclosed.
Your third question asks who is liable for the medical charges incurred by an indigent prisoner in connection with treatment needed as a result of an injury received before arrest, during arrest or while confined in the county jail.
We direct your attention to OAG's 78-7 and 77-1, copies enclosed, dealing with this matter. The county in which an indigent county jail prisoner resides is primarily responsible for the payment of necessary medical expenses for that sick or injured prisoner, subject, of course, to the county's ability to pay. The city of the indigent prisoner's residence has a responsibility in the matter also, although the courts have never spelled out exactly what portion of such bills the city should pay. This office can only suggest that the city and county involved get together and agree on the joint payment of the bill on some equitable basis.
The responsibility for paying the medical expenses of an indigent prisoner in the county jail is not dependent upon when or where the disease originated or whether the expenses associated with the treatment resulted from an injury or disease incurred during imprisonment. The primary consideration is that the prisoner actually needs medical attention and treatment, regardless of circumstances. Note the cases and statutory authorities set forth in the above-mentioned and enclosed opinions.