February 17, 2011

EXPANDING ENFORCEMENT POWERS FOR UCONN POLICE

State Representative Gregory Haddad (D-Mansfield, Chaplin) has introduced legislation (HB 6112) to grant local ordinance enforcement authority to accredited police departments, such as UConn’s police force, in the municipality where they are located.

Haddad believes if his legislation becomes law, it will provide UConn’s police department with additional enforcement tools to use when responding to off-campus calls in Mansfield. It would also apply to other non-municipal independent departments such as the State Capitol Police in Hartford and Connecticut State University forces in Willimantic, New Britain, New Haven and Danbury.

“Our resident state troopers that serve our community do a great job and this would help UConn Police to also enforce our local ordinances, particularly when venturing off campus,” Haddad said. “It just makes a lot of sense that municipal ordinances should be readily available as law enforcement tools to all accredited police departments that serve our cities and towns.”

There are currently nine resident state troopers assigned to the town of Mansfield, and a 50-officer UConn police force serving the University.

“There are times, such as a mutual aid situation, where the university police respond to calls or patrol off-campus,” said Mansfield Town Manager Matthew Hart, who testified with Haddad at a public hearing on the bill before the General Assembly’s Public Safety & Security Committee at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. “For these situations, it would be helpful to ensure that university police have the ability to enforce Mansfield ordinances.”