BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT v. Voyles, 97-CA-01592-SCT.

• Decision Date: 04 February 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-CA-01592-SCT.,97-CA-01592-SCT.
• Citation: 732 So.2d 216
• Parties: BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING v. Roger VOYLES.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

732 So.2d 216

BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING v. Roger VOYLES.

No. 97-CA-01592-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

February 4, 1999.

Office of the Attorney General by Dave Scott, Attorney for Appellant.

Phil R. Hinton,, Corinth, Attorney for Appellee.

En Banc.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. From May of 1981 to the present, Roger Voyles has worked for various law enforcement agencies. From May of 1981 through February of 1982, he was employed with the City of Savannah, Tennessee, as a patrolman. Following February of 1982 and until September of 1993, Mr. Voyles worked for either the City of Corinth police department or the Alcorn County Sheriffs Office for brief periods of time not exceeding one year. However, in September of 1993, Mr. Voyles again was employed with the Alcorn County Sheriffs Department and has served in that capacity until recently.

¶ 2. Because of an injury to his knee while in the line of duty, Voyles has been unable to attend the law enforcement officer's training academy. His physician recently decided his injury would not progress and was physically unable to complete the physical requirements of the academy. In April of 1997, Mr. Voyles made an application to the Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training (the "Board") to certify him under the grandfather clause and ratify his past four years at the sheriffs department.

¶ 3. He based his application for certification on two primary grounds. First, Voyles based his application on the "grandfather clause" of Miss.Code Ann. § 45-6-11(1). Second, he argued that he had been properly employed without attending the academy, because of illness or other events beyond his control in accord with Miss.Code Ann. § 45-6-11(3)(a). On May 12, 1997, Voyles appeared before the Board in Starkville, Mississippi, and presented his application. On July 1, 1997, the Board denied his certification on the basis that the Board had no statutory authority to "grandfather" an officer who was serving in another state on July 1, 1981.

¶ 4. Aggrieved by the Board's decision, Voyles timely appealed to the Alcorn County Chancery Court on July 17, 1997. Following a hearing in October of 1997, the court issued an opinion and order on November 17, 1997. The chancellor reversed in holding the Board went beyond its scope of statutory authority by misinterpreting the statutory mandate. The chancellor held: (1) that his continuous employment from September of 1993 to July of 1997 is ratified and approved, because Voyles is unable to complete the requirements due to illness or other events beyond his control, as provided in Section 45-6-11(3)(a), and he is entitled to be "grandfathered" under Section 45-6-11(1); and (2) the Board must certify Voyles under the grandfather provisions of Section 45-6-11, but did not limit the Board's authority to require him to complete an academic course generally required of officers out of service for over two years.

¶ 5. Aggrieved by the Chancellor's reversal, the Board appeals to this Court and raises the following two issues:

I. DOES THE BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO GRANDFATHER INTO CERTIFICATION AN EMPLOYEE OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WHO WAS SERVING IN AN OUT-OF-STATE JURISDICTION ON JULY 1, 1981?

II. DOES MISS. CODE ANN. SECTION 45-6-11(3)(a) MANDATE CERTIFICATION FOR A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WITH A DEGENERATIVE MEDICAL CONDITION WHO IS UNABLE TO ATTEND AND COMPLETE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT ACADEMY?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6. The decision of an administrative agency is not to be disturbed unless the agency order was unsupported by substantial evidence; was arbitrary or capricious; was beyond the agency's scope or powers; or violated the constitutional or statutory rights of the aggrieved party. Sprouse v. Mississippi Employment Security Commission, 639 So.2d 901, 902 (Miss. 1994); Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality v. Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors, 621 So.2d 1211, 1215 (Miss.1993); Melody Manor Convalescent Center v. Mississippi State Department of Health, 546 So.2d 972, 974 (Miss.1989). There is a rebuttable presumption in favor of the agency's decisions; the burden of proving to the contrary is on the challenging party. Sprouse, 639 So.2d at 902; Chickasaw County, 621 So.2d at 1216.

¶ 7. Appellate review of an agency decision is limited to the record and the agency's findings. Chickasaw County, 621 So.2d at 1216; Mississippi Employment Security Commission v. PDN, Inc., 586 So.2d 838, 840 (Miss.1991). The reviewing court cannot substitute its judgment for that of the agency or reweigh the facts of the case. Sprouse, 639 So.2d at 902; Chickasaw County, 621 So.2d at 1216; Mississippi Public Service Commission v. Merchants Truck Line, Inc., 598 So.2d 778, 782 (Miss.1992). Chancery and circuit courts are held to the same standard as this Court when reviewing agency decisions. Chickasaw County, 621 So.2d at 1215. When this Court finds that the lower court has exceeded its authority in overturning an agency decision, we will reverse and reinstate the agency's decision. Chickasaw County, 621 So.2d at 1215; Merchants Truck Line, 598 So.2d at 782.

DISCUSSION OF LAW

¶ 8. The Board first offers its view of the purpose and design of Section 45-6-1 et seq. Appellee Voyles does not object to the Board's conclusions in this regard. Prior to July of 1981, there was no uniform training or standards of training for law enforcement officers in this state. With the enactment of statute in 1981, the Board was created along with enforcement powers and responsibilities to certify law enforcement officers in this state. Miss. Code Ann. § 45-6-1 et seq. (Supp.1996). The basic objective of this legislation was to provide small towns and counties with the same quality and level of law officer training that was available in larger cities and counties as well as making the training criteria uniform for all law enforcement officers.

I. DOES THE BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO GRANDFATHER INTO CERTIFICATION AN EMPLOYEE OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WHO WAS SERVING IN AN OUT-OF-STATE JURISDICTION ON JULY 1, 1981?

¶ 9. Section 45-6-11(1), the "grandfather" clause, provides in pertinent part as follows:

(1) Law enforcement officers already serving under permanent appointment on July 1, 1981 and personnel of the division of community services under Section 47-7-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, serving on July 1, 1994, shall not be required to meet any requirement of subsections (3) and (4) of this section as a condition of continued employment; nor shall failure of any such law enforcement officer to fulfill such requirements make that person ineligible for any promotional examination for which that person is otherwise eligible.

Miss.Code Ann. § 45-6-11(1) (Supp.1997)¹. The term "law enforcement officer" is defined at section 45-6-3(c), as follows:

(c) "Law enforcement officer" means any person appointed or employed full time by the state or any political subdivision thereof, who is duly sworn and vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests, and whose primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of criminals and the enforcement of the criminal and traffic laws of this state and/or the ordinances of any political subdivision thereof.

Miss.Code Ann. § 45-6-3(c) (Supp.1997)(emphasis added).

¶ 10. The Board contends that it has no statutory authority or jurisdictional basis to grandfather a law enforcement officer serving in a foreign jurisdiction on July 1, 1981. The Board cites Mississippi case law for the proposition that it is vested only with the statutory authority conferred by statute and that which is necessarily implied. Mississippi State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Steele, 317 So.2d 33, 35 (Miss. 1975); Mississippi Milk Comm'n v. Winn-Dixie Louisiana, Inc., 235 So.2d 684 (Miss.1970). The Board applies a strict, literal interpretation and asserts that without question the statute defines and contemplates that those eligible for grandfathering are law enforcement officers in service in Mississippi on July 1, 1981. The Board submits that the chancellor's liberal interpretation of the statutes was an abuse of discretion that should be reversed. We agree.

¶ 11. In contrast, Voyles contends that the Board made a overly narrow interpretation of the statutes which the chancellor correctly remedied. Voyles points to Section 45-6-3, designated "Definitions," and its preamble which states, "For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein, unless the context shall otherwise require..." Miss.Code Ann. § 45-6-3 (Supp.1997). Since the term "law enforcement officer" is defined in this section, as above, Voyles contends that the chancellor correctly interpreted the statutes in their proper context to grandfather him.

¶ 12. The Board responds that the proper context would be to grandfather him if he had successfully completed an equivalent academy in another state. It is uncontested that Voyles never received training from an officer training academy in any state. The Board argues that this is where the chancellor clearly erred. The chancellor stated that subsequent amendments to Miss.Code Ann. Section 45-6-1 et. seq. revealed the Board's narrow construction of the statute as unwarranted. The Board thinks that the chancellor was likely alluding to Section 45-6-11(6), which provides as follows:

(6) The board shall issue a certificate evidencing satisfaction of the requirements of subsections (3) and (4) of this section to any applicant who presents such evidence as may be required by its rules and regulations of satisfactory completion of a program or course of instruction in another jurisdiction equivalent in content and quality to that required by the board for approved law enforcement

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