Whether that is a good or bad thing can be discussed by Moretown
residents prior to Town Meeting. What is important to recognize is that
Moretown and other Valley towns are on a collision course with a new
state law that goes into effect this summer.
The law strips any law enforcement authority from local constables who
have not passed a law enforcement training certification program. The
new rules for town constables who are to have any powers whatsoever
will require completion of a 58-hour training program -- which is free
of charge. Those who pass will get a provisional certificate allowing
them to work only with a fully certified law enforcement officer.
Within a year, constables must take an additional 50 hours of training
(at a cost of several hundred dollars) and then have to complete a
minimum of 60 additional hours of field training with a fully certified
law enforcement agency/officer. Constables and or towns will have to
work out a monetary arrangement to pay that agency or officer for the
training time.
Constables who undertake the training will need to be away from home
and jobs during the 58 hours, the additional 50 hours and the final
60-plus hours of training. Finally, towns that do empower constables as
law enforcement officers are going to face changes in insurance costs.
What this means is that Valley towns from Moretown to Warren to
Waitsfield and Fayston are behind in planning for law enforcement needs
in The Valley. It is clear that the traffic control provided by
contracts with the Washington County Sheriff's department is valuable
but is not addressing the very real problem of property crimes and drug
abuse.
These new state regulations for empowering constables to perform law
enforcement duties will create new cost burdens for local towns and
those costs must be assessed within the context of what type of police
protection is needed in The Valley today, in 2015, in 2020 and beyond.
We have failed to plan for this and are now behind the eight ball on a collision course with new state regulations.
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