CHAPTER 213
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 264, VOLUME 52, LAWS OF DELAWARE BY AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO REINCORPORATE THE TOWN OF MAGNOLIA" RELATING TO THE BORROWING POWER OF THE TOWN AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF TOWN ORDINANCES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all the Members elected to each branch thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. Chapter 264, Volume 52, Laws of Delaware, is amended by striking the words "Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00)" where they appear in Section 16 thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the word "Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00)."
Section 2. Chapter 264, Volume 52, Laws of Delaware, is further amended by adding the following paragraphs to Section 9:
The Justice of the Peace sitting (whether regularly, specially or otherwise) in the Justice of the Peace Court located nearest to the Town shall also have jurisdiction and cognizance of all offenses against the provisions of this Act or the authorized ordinances of the Town committed within the limits of the Town as far as to arrest and hold to bail or fine and imprison offenders ; provided that he shall impose no fine or penalty in excess of that fixed by the ordinance and shall not commit to prison for a longer term than 30 days. The Kent County Jail may be used for imprisonment under the provisions of this Act provided that the Council shall pay for the board of persons committed for breaches or ordinances which are not breaches of the general law.
Any person convicted before such Justice of the Peace or Alderman for the violation of any Town ordinance may appeal from such conviction to the Superior Court in and for Kent County upon giving bond to the State with or without surety, such as the Justice of the Peace or Alderman shall determine,
binding the person taking the appeal to appear before the Court. Notice of such an appeal shall be given to such Justice of the Peace or Alderman within five (5) days from the time of conviction, counting the day of conviction as one, and the bond with surety, if any, shall be filed within five (5) days. No bond upon appeal from a conviction for violation of a Town ordinance shall exceed the sum of one hundred dollars ($100). Such appeal shall be prosecuted and the proceedings shall be had as in an appeal from a conviction before a Justice of the Peace in the case of a violation of the laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles.
Section 3. Chapter 264, Volume 52, Laws of Delaware, is further amended by striking from Section 13 the following paragraph:
The Council shall elect one or more persons to serve as police officers for and on behalf of the Town and shall fix his or their compensation. Such police officers shall be under the direction of the Mayor of the Town except as Council shall otherwise direct. It shall be the duty of such officers to police the Town of Magnolia and they shall have all the powers of the Constables of Kent County within the Town limits and within one mile adjacent to the corporate limits of said Town.
And by inserting in lieu thereof the following:
The Council may appoint a police force consisting of such person or persons as the Council may deem wise and advisable. The Council shall from time to time adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary for the organization, government and control of the police force. The members of the force shall be subject to the direction of the Council and may be removed by the Council at any time. They shall preserve peace and order and shall compel obedience within the Town limits to the ordinances of the Town and the laws of the State ; and they shall have such other duties as the Council shall from time to time prescribe.
Each member of the police force shall be vested with all powers and authority of a constable of Kent County within the Town limits and within one mile outside such limits, and in the case of the pursuit of an offender, his power and authority shall extend to all parts of the State of Delaware.
Every person sentenced to imprisonment by the Justice of the Peace, as provided in Section 9 above, shall be delivered by a member of the police force to the Kent County Jail, to be there imprisoned for the term of the sentence.
It shall be the duty of the police to suppress riotous, disorderly or turbulent assemblages of persons in the streets and public places of the Town, or the noisy conduct of any person in the same, and upon view of the above, or upon the view of the violation of any ordinance of the Town relating to the peace and good order thereof, the police shall have the right and power to arrest without warrant and to take the offender before the Justice of the Peace, as aforesaid.
Approved December 29, 1967.