A state law requiring elected town constables to get certification from the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council by this month or risk losing their law enforcement authority has been extended.
The measure now says municipal constables who’ve already started their training need to be certified or at least finish a basic training course by July of next year in order to retain their law enforcement authority.
If elected constables don’t have certification or fail to start basic training by then, they’ll have no legal authority to enforce the law in their towns.
The Vermont League of Cities and Towns has drafted a letter that select boards are delivering to their constables informing them of the changes.
The League says unless towns have voted to restrict the constable’s law enforcement authority, they have the same powers within their towns as the state police or local police departments.
State statute says all other law enforcement officers are required to obtain training.
But constables and sheriffs had been exempted from the law until an exemption was deleted by the 2008 legislative session.