Oyster Bay Town Constables May Soon Be Armed

OYSTER BAY, NY — Officials are mulling over whether to arm Town of Oyster Bay public safety officers and allow them to use deadly force, according to a report. The proposal was on Tuesday's town board agenda, Newsday first reported.

Under the policy, public safety officers would be licensed to carry a gun issued by the Nassau County Police Department, according to the report. The officers could shoot if they had reason to believe a person posed an imminent threat.

The town's use-of-force policy appeared twice on the agenda. One resolution would ratify the retention of special counsel to the town attorney in connection with the policy. A second resolution related to the policy would give the supervisor or his designee the ability to carry out an agreement to provide mental health screening and testing and to authorize spending for necessary "gear," which would be bought from the state Office of General Services list.

Joseph Saladino, the town supervisor, on Tuesday said the proposal would apply to bay constables and employees in the public safety department who are active or retired police officers.

A Sea Cliff resident told the board on Tuesday he was concerned the change was too expensive and could leave the town exposed for potential future litigation.

"If they're not currently armed, what is the necessity to arm these folks now?" he asked.

Saladino said the towns of Oyster Bay and North Hempstead are the only two major municipalities he's aware of that don't arm their bay constable officers. Hempstead, Brookhaven, Islip, Smitthtown, Babylon, Huntington, Riverhead, Southampton, Easthampton, Shelter Island, Southold, Glen Cove, Long Beach and all villages with bay constables have armed their constables.

Joseph Nocella, the town attorney, told the town board, Oyster Bay is arguably "late to the table" on arming constables.

"Every other municipality with bay constables have armed their bay constables with the exception of Oyster Bay and North Hempstead," Nocella said.

The state has determined bay constables are peace officers, Nocella said. This means they are entitled to carry a gun to carry out their duties, though it isn't mandated. Retired police officers are classified as peace officers under federal and state law, he said.

Nocella gave the example that constables are obligated to protect the public during duck hunting season, when armed hunters are out and about.

"[The constables] are unarmed," he said. "It's a perilous situation."

Nocella said all constables are trained by Nassau County or Suffolk County police forces. In their training, they are taught use of force and its limitations through the police academy.

"They're already trained," he said. "And the policy requires that they be trained. The policy that you're contemplating adopting requires that they be trained, but they already are."

You can watch the town board meeting here.