Request By:
Ted Collins, Franklin County SheriffPhillip Sturgill. Boyd County SheriffStan Scott, Calloway County SheriffMerle Edlin, LaRue County SheriffBobby Hammons, Scott County SheriffHarold E. Tingle, Shelby County SheriffRandy K. Clark, Trigg County SheriffJohn Coyle, Woodford County Sheriff
Opinion
Opinion By: ALBERT B. CHANDLER, III, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Scott White, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
Introduction
We have been asked what criteria a deputy sheriff (a county official) must meet to be entitled to funding from the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program (KLEFP). We provide a response pursuant to KRS 15.025 (3) & (4). This question arises as a result of the 1998 General Assembly making sheriffs and their deputies eligible for KLEFP funding.
Based upon well settled rules of statutory construction and agency authority under KRS Chapter 13A, it is our opinion that the criteria for deputy sheriff KLEFP funding is that he or she be sworn and full time. No other requirement or criteria can be superimposed on sheriff offices by any Executive Branch agency. Any other non-statutory criteria would violate the clear intent of the General Assembly as expressed in KRS 15.420(2), (as amended 1998). As such, so long as the deputy is sworn and is full-time, then the KLEPF eligibility determination.
Analysis
KRS 15.420(2) was amended by the 1998 General Assembly to provide, for the first time, that sheriffs and their full-time deputies were eligible to receive KLEFP funding under KRS 15.440 and KRS 15.460. To be eligible, one must be a "police officer, " as defined in the Act. KRS 15.420(2) sets out that, for KLEFP purposes, a "police officer" is:
. . . a full-time member of a lawfully organized police department of county or city government, sheriff, or full time deputy sheriff, including those providing court security, appointed pursuant to KRS 70.030, or state or public university police officer who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the general laws of the state, but does not include Kentucky State Police, any sheriff who earns the maximum constitutional salary for his office, any special deputy sheriff appointed pursuant to KRS 70.045, any constable, district detective, deputy district detective, special local peace officer, auxiliary police officer or any other peace officer not specifically authorized in KRS 15.410 to 15.510.
(Italicized portion represents the 1998 amendments). Thus, to be eligible for KLEFP funding, a deputy only needs to be full-time, and responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and enforcement of the laws of the state. The question then turns on what the legislature meant by the phrase ". . . responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the general laws of the state. . . ." Id.
Principals of statutory construction require that a statute must be construed literally unless to do so would lead to an absurd or wholly unreasonable conclusion. ITT Commercial Financial Corp. v. Madisonville Recapping, 793 S.W.2d 849 (Ky. App. 1990). Indeed, where the intended meaning of a statute is clear from the language of the statute as a whole, then the terms used by the legislature must be afforded their common usage meaning. Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. Liquor Outlet, Inc., 734 S.W.2d 816 (Ky. App. 1987).
We believe applying these rules to this statute, that the phrase's meaning is clear and susceptible to only one conclusion: the "police officer" must be empowered to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth. We believe that this requirement is satisfied if the deputy is a sworn deputy, as distinguished from non-sworn sheriff personnel. Since sworn deputies have arrest power, and, therefore, peace officer status, then they are specifically empowered, as law enforcement officers, to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth.
A sworn deputy sheriff is charged with all of the arrest powers prescribed in KRS 431.005, "Arrest by peace officers - By private persons." This statute states:
(1) A peace officer may make an arrest:
(a) In obedience to a warrant; or
(b) Without a warrant when a felony is committed in his presence; or
(c) Without a warrant when he has probable cause to believe that the person being arrested has committed a felony; or
(d) Without a warrant when a misdemeanor, as defined in KRS 431.060, has been committed in his presence; or
(e) Without a warrant when a violation of KRS 189.290, 189.393, 189.520, 189.580, 511.080, or 525.070 has been committed in his presence, except that a violation of KRS 189A.010 or KRS 281A.210 need not be committed in his presence in order to make an arrest without a warrant if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has violated KRS 189A.010 or KRS 281A.210.
(2) (a) Any peace officer may arrest a person without warrant when the peace officer has probable cause to believe that the person has intentionally or wantonly caused physical injury to a family member or member of an unmarried couple.
(3) For purposes of subsection (2) of this section, a "peace officer" is:
(a) . . . a duly elected sheriff, or a full-time paid deputy sheriff;
(emphasis added). Also, KRS 446.010 "Definitions for statutes generally," states that a "peace officer" means sheriffs and ". . . other persons with similar authority to make arrests. " Id. at (24). This definition includes sworn deputies.
The General Assembly has provided for two types of sheriff office personnel: sworn and unsworn. KRS 70.030. The former, that is sworn deputy sheriffs, must take the KRS 70.010 oath of office (the swearing) before he or she can execute any of the duties of the office of deputy sheriff. KRS 70.030(1). Once sworn, then these deputies have the aforedescribed KRS 431.005(1) and 446.010(24) arrest power.
Based on these statutes it is quite plain that a sworn deputy sheriff - as opposed to non-sworn sheriff office personnel - has the authority and responsibility to engage in the ". . . prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the general laws of the state." KRS 15.420(2) (as amended 1998). Thus, sworn full-time deputies, as law enforcement officers, meet the statutory criteria for KLEPF.
KRS 15.420(2) also sets out the complete and exclusive list of KLEPF criteria: full time and law enforcement power. It is clear, then, that administrative regulations or agency policies cannot be used to modify the terms of the statute so as to place additional criteria on KLEPF eligibility. See, KRS 13A.120(2); and, Cornette v. Com., 899 S.W.2d 502, 506 (Ky. App. 1995) (". . . regulations must not address matters properly within the purview of the statute and which the statute has already addressed.").
Conclusion
For these reasons, all full-time sworn deputy sheriffs, irrespective of primary duties or job assignments, are eligible for funding under KLEFP. Since the statute does not authorize any Executive Branch agency to promulgate administrative regulations to further define this term, any additional requirements on eligibility would be improper and contrary to the express intent of the General Assembly.