Sec. 8-44b. Housing authority police force.
Sec. 8-44b. Housing authority police force. (a) Any housing authority created
by section 8-40 shall have the power to establish a housing authority police force, the
members of which shall be employees of such housing authority and shall be known as
housing authority police officers. Housing authority police officers shall be appointed
by the local board, agency or person empowered to appoint municipal police officers,
subject to approval of the housing authority. The requirements for appointment as a
police officer in the municipality in which the housing authority is located, except for
age and physical qualifications, shall be mandatory for housing authority police officers
in such municipality. No person shall be appointed to such housing authority police
force unless he has been awarded a certificate attesting to his successful completion of
an approved municipal police basic training program, as provided in section 7-294e.
The initial appointment shall be for a probationary term upon completion of which
the appointing authority may promote such probationary officers to permanent status;
provided such promotion shall be in accordance with procedures applicable to municipal
police officers in the municipality and shall be made subject to the approval of the
housing authority. Housing authority police officers shall have and exercise the powers
and authority conferred upon municipal police officers and shall be subject to the ultimate supervision and control of the chief of police of the municipality in which the
housing authority operates.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, any housing
authority police force which existed prior to October 1, 1970, pursuant to Title 1 of Public
Law 89-754, 80 Stat. 1255, the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act
of 1966, and which, for any reason, does not constitute a housing authority police force
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, shall constitute a housing authority police
force pursuant to this subsection and the members of such police forces may exercise
the powers granted to such members pursuant to this subsection. The members of such
police force may act, at the expense of the municipality, as special police officers upon
property owned or managed by any housing authority. Such special police officers: (1)
May arrest, without previous complaint and warrant, any person for any offense in their
jurisdiction, when such person is taken or apprehended in the act or on the speedy
information of others; (2) when in the immediate pursuit of one who may be arrested
under the provisions of this subsection, may pursue such offender outside of their jurisdiction into any part of the municipality to effect an arrest; (3) shall be peace officers
as defined in subdivision (9) of section 53a-3; (4) shall have the authority to serve
criminal process within their jurisdiction; (5) shall, when on duty, wear a uniform, distinct in color from that worn by the police officers of the municipality; (6) shall, when
on duty, wear in plain view a shield, distinct in shape from that worn by the police officers
of the municipality which shall bear the words "special police"; (7) shall complete a
forty-hour basic training program provided by the municipality within one hundred
eighty days of June 27, 1983; (8) shall take an oath of office.
(1971, P.A. 424; P.A. 83-346, S. 1, 2.)
History: P.A. 83-346 added Subsec. (b).
Cited. 216 C. 112.