Newtown, by Charter provision, currently has its maximum allowable force of seven appointed, nonsalaried constables on the books.

But according to Police Commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico, the local police chief apparently does not know who they are; they are vested with very limited legal responsibilities; and it appears that Charter Commissioner Robert Hall may have been one of the last local court officers to use one to serve civil papers — and that was “15 or 20 years ago.”

The matter of weighing whether to keep these appointed by seemingly ceremonial officials in the Newtown Charter came before the commission November 12 as they continued examining revisions to Newtown’s constitutional document.

After about 40 minutes of discussion with Mr Mangiafico, it was determined that more information may be needed before charter officials could adequately consider whether constables should be kept or eliminated from the document.

Section 2-110 of the Charter currently refers to constables in two of its subsections.

Section (f) of Newtown’s Charter states: The members and officers of the Police Department shall have the authority with respect to the service of criminal process and the enforcement of the criminal laws as vested by the General Statutes in officers and members of an organized police department or force or constables.

And Section (g) states: The First Selectman, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, may appoint special constables pursuant to Chapter 95 of the General Statutes. Such special constables appointed under Section 7-92 of said Chapter 95 shall be under the control of the Chief of Police.

Connecticut General Statute Section 7-92 refers to special constables. It states, “The chief executive officer of any municipality may appoint such number of special constables as he or she deems necessary to preserve the public peace within such municipality, who may serve for terms of not more than two years or during any public celebration or gathering or any riot or unusual excitement, and such special officers shall have the authority of constables of such town to serve criminal process and make arrests for commission of crime. The chief executive officer may appoint special constables:

*With limited geographical jurisdiction; or

*who are appointed at the request of corporations, associations or businesses and are subject to such limitations, restrictions and conditions as the chief executive officer of the municipality deems appropriate, and who shall: (A) Have jurisdiction only on land controlled by such corporation, association or business; (B) be deemed for all purposes to be agents and employees of such corporation, association or business; and (C) be paid for their services by such corporation, association or business.”

‘Interesting, Sad, Confusing’

In addressing the matter of local constables, Mr Mangiafico described his research on their presence in the framework of local government and law enforcement as “sometimes very interesting, sometimes very sad, sometimes very surprising, sometimes very confusing.”

The short answer the police commission chairman gave as to whether he and his panel favor eliminating constables from the charter was yes. But even though the constables report to Police Chief Michael Kehoe, when he was approached by Mr Mangiafico asking about their viability, he could not name any of the seven appointed individuals.

The town clerk’s office lists Newtown’s current Republican appointed constables as: Andrew J Buzzi, Jr, Thomas Catalina, Frank R. Delucia, Louis Jay Mattegat, and R.M. Giannettino. The Democratic appointees are Robert W Connor, Jr, and James R. Stiewing.

Their terms all expire on January 1, 2016.

Mr Mangiafico said it was “somewhat surprising,” but Chief Kehoe said he was never officially informed about the identities of Newtown’s constables during his tenure. The police commissioner also said that Connecticut statutes refer to both “Special Constables,” and “Regular Constables,” although that distinction is not codified in the local charter.

Upon reviewing the list of these appointees, Mr Mangiafico told the charter panel that he discovered he knew several of them. But upon contacting those he knew and asking what they did in their official capacity, the answer was, “They don’t do anything.”

“It appears on the surface, that the whole thing should be done away with,” Mr Mangiafico said. But he was left questioning if technically, regular constables could utilize their positions as a “training ground” for possible advanced law enforcement positions.

‘Honorary Positions?’

Mr Mangiafico pointed out that in certain narrow instances, and under the broader definition of state statutes, regular constables might still serve some utility functions within the community.

“They have no cost to us…they are not issued equipment and they are not trained…they certainly don’t have firearms,” he said. “But the [police] commission was unanimous that 2-110(g) should be obsoleted unless someone can come up with a reason why we should have them.”

Charter Commissioner Dan Wiedemann said it appears the first selectman is appointing constables as “honorary positions.”

Charter commissioner Deborra Zukowski recalled a recent truck crash on Interstate 84 that caused a huge amount of traffic to spill onto Newtown roadways. She noted that there were not enough local police on duty to staff key traffic choke points like the intersection of Main Street and Church Hill Road.

Ms Zukowski wondered if, in these situations, constables could be activated to assist with traffic control.

“If they could be used, would that be of interest to the [police] commission?” she asked.

Charter Commission Chairman Jeff Capeci asked, “What is the training ground if there is no training program?”

He then proposed asking the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities about how other communities in the state identify and use constables before continuing the conversation.

“Maybe there are practical uses we haven’t thought of,” he added.