§ 70 - Capitol police department - Vermont Statutes

§ 70. Capitol police department

(a) Creation. A capitol police department is created within the office of the sergeant at arms. The sergeant at arms shall appoint and may remove, at his or her pleasure, individuals as capitol police officers, one of whom shall be appointed to serve as chief. All such positions shall be exempt state employees. The traffic control officer and any other employee of the sergeant at arms may, in addition to other positions and duties, be appointed as a capitol police officer. The chief shall supervise the officer force under the direction of the sergeant at arms. Such appointments and all oaths or affirmations shall be in writing and filed with the sergeant at arms. An officer shall also serve as a deputy sergeant at arms and as a notary public pursuant to section 442 of Title 24.

(b) Powers; training.

(1) Capitol police officers shall have all the same powers and authority as sheriffs and other law enforcement officers anywhere in the state, which shall include the authority to arrest persons and enforce the civil and criminal laws, keep the peace, provide security, and to serve civil and criminal process. For this purpose, capitol police officers shall subscribe to the same oaths required for sheriffs.

(2) Capitol police officers who are not certified in either the full-time or part-time certification program of the Vermont criminal justice training council (VCJTC) shall meet qualification and certification standards prescribed by the sergeant at arms in consultation with the executive director of the VCJTC. In setting the standards, the sergeant at arms shall consider the part-time certification program provided to other law enforcement officers by the VCJTC.

(3) As an alternative, in the sole discretion of the sergeant at arms, capitol police officers shall be certified pursuant to the part-time certification program of the VCJTC.

(4) The VCJTC shall make training available to capitol police officers at no expense to the sergeant at arms, and the VCJTC shall certify those officers as capitol police officers if they meet the certification standards set by the sergeant at arms, or as a regular law enforcement officer if the requirements of the part-time certification program are met, regardless of the number of hours or weeks worked by the capitol police officer.

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a capitol police officer shall be a law enforcement officer as if certified pursuant to the provisions of chapter 151 of Title 20.

(c) Coordination of capitol complex security: The capitol police department shall coordinate security within the state house and assist the commissioner of buildings and general services in providing security and law enforcement services within the capitol complex , as delineated in a memorandum of understanding signed by the commissioner and the sergeant at arms no later than June 30, 2000, and as subsequently amended. In all other areas of the capitol complex, except the space occupied by the supreme court, the security, control of traffic and coordination of law enforcement activity shall be under the direction of the commissioner of buildings and general services, with which the capitol police department may assist. (Added 1999, No. 29, § 46, eff. May 19, 1999; amended 1999, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 46, eff. May 24, 2000.)