Judges: STEVE CLARK, Attorney General
Filed Date: 6/20/1989
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
The Honorable Jerry E. Hinshaw State Representative Route 4, Box 444A Springdale, AR 72764
Dear Representative Hinshaw:
This is in response to your request for an opinion regarding the effect of an expungement in connection with the appointment of a member of a sheriff's posse.
According to the facts outlined in your request, the individual in question pled guilty to a charge of theft by receiving and received two years" probation. An order was subsequently entered expunging the record. This information was discovered after a favorable determination on his application for membership on the sheriff's posse. This question posed is whether this individual is eligible to serve a law enforcement officer if he meets all other requirements.
A review of the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training regulations indicates that a posse member is an "auxiliary law enforcement officer," and as such falls with the definition of "law enforcement officer". Executive Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training Rules and Regulations Manual 1001 (1984 Revision). Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated
[N]o person who pleads guilty or is found guilty of a felony shall be eligible to be appointed or certified as a law enforcement officer.
Reference must also be made to A.C.A.
No one may be appointed or serve as an auxiliary law enforcement officer if the person has been convicted by a state or by the federal government of a crime, the punishment for which could have been imprisonment in a federal penitentiary or a state prison.1
A.C.A.
We are unable to determine from the facts presented whether or not this individual pled guilty to a felony. Theft by receiving may be a misdemeanor, depending upon the value of the property. See A.C.A.
It is my opinion that the expungement in this situation in all likelihood does not nullify the operation of A.C.A.
Please note that I have enclosed a copy of Attorney General Opinion Number 89-056, wherein this issue is fully explored and the basis for this determination is outlined.
The foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve, was prepared by Assistant Attorney General Elisabeth A. Walker.