A. Citation Officer. When in this code, or in any other ordinance of the city, an officer or employee of the city is empowered to enforce, or charged with the duty of enforcing, any particular provision or provisions of this code or of any other ordinance of the city, the violation of which provision or provisions would constitute a misdemeanor or infraction, the officer or employee so empowered, or so charged with such duty, shall have the authority to arrest without warrant and to issue criminal citations as set forth in this section for the purpose of enforcing this code. Such public officer shall be deemed a citation officer and shall have all the powers and protection, as conferred pursuant to California Penal Code Section 836.5 on public officers.
B. Training Requirements. Before any such officer or employee may exercise criminal citation authority pursuant to this section, that officer or employee must complete an enforcement training program established at the direction of the chief of the Visalia police department. The training program shall be designed to instruct officers and employees regarding:
1. The provisions of this code to be enforced;
2. The evidentiary prerequisites to proper prosecution for violations thereof;
3. The procedural requirements of citations, including completion of forms, processing and amendment of citation forms; and
4. The limitations attendant thereto.
C. Enforcement/Peace Officer. A peace officer is defined in Title 3, Chapter 4, Sections 830, et seq. of the California Penal Code. A peace officer is not permitted to carry a firearm. Enforcement officers of the city are not peace officers, other than those hired and trained by the Visalia police department, but may exercise the powers of arrest of a peace officer as specified in Penal Code Section 836 during the course and within the scope of their employment if they receive a training course in the exercise of those powers as prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training as outlined in Penal Code Section 832.
D. Citation Authority. Officers and employees who have completed the prerequisite training prescribed by subsection B or C of this section have the authority to issue administrative notice and orders, and criminal citations for both misdemeanors and infractions, as authorized by the city manager or his or her designee or the responsible department head or his or her designee.
E. Delegation. An officer or employee designated in subsection D of this section has the authority to appoint employees to assist in the enforcement responsibilities. Such employees shall likewise have the authority to issue criminal citations or administrative notice and orders following the written confirmation by the city manager or his or her designee or the responsible department head or his or her designee of the appointment of such employees by the officers and employees designated in subsection D of this section and upon completion of the training required by subsection B or C of this section.
F. Notice to Appear. Citation officers vested with criminal citation authority pursuant to this section, may, pursuant to Sections 836.5, 853.5 and 853.6 of the California Penal Code, issue a citation in the form of a notice to appear to a person where any such citation officer has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be issued the citation has violated a provision of this code in the citation officer's presence, which the citation officer had the discretionary duty to enforce, and therefore, has committed a misdemeanor or infraction.
G. Release on Written Promise to Appear. A citation officer exercising the authority pursuant to this section may release the person to be issued a citation on his or her written promise to appear in court. The citation officer shall under no circumstances take the person to be issued a citation into custody.
H. Refusal to Sign. In the event that the person to be issued a citation refuses to provide his or her written promise to appear in court, a citation officer may summon a Visalia city police officer and request that such police officer take the person into custody. If the person demands to be taken before a magistrate, the citation officer may summon a Visalia city police officer and request that such police officer take the person into custody, or seek assistance of the city attorney and request that a complaint be prepared and filed against that person.
I. Filing and Maintenance Files. Citation officers having a duty to enforce the provisions of this code, and who exercise the authority to issue a citation pursuant to this section, shall maintain a file of executed citations issued under subsection F of this section and such citations shall be forwarded to the city attorney's office for issuance of a complaint and filing with the appropriate magistrate.
J. Issuance as Infraction. Notwithstanding that a violation of a provision of this code which a citation officer has a duty to enforce is declared to be a misdemeanor, the citation officer may, pursuant to Section 1.12.010(A) and (B), issue the citation as an infraction.
K. Additional Authority. Nothing in this section shall be considered to limit any authority otherwise vested in the named officers and employees, provided elsewhere in this code, or by state law. (Ord. 2000-16 § 1 (part), 2000)