Bill would enable municipal, tribal police to assist each other
Municipalities would be able to enter into mutual-aid agreements with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal police departments under a bill introduced by the state legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee.
Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane said Tuesday he supports the measure, which his office helped draft.
The bill — one of about 20 the committee is subjecting to a public hearing Thursday — would empower the “chief executive officer” of each of the tribes to enter into agreements with municipalities “to furnish or receive police assistance.”
“It permits towns, if they want or need additional police officers, to ask for help from the tribal departments — and vice versa,” Kane said. “It doesn’t require anybody to do anything; it permits them to do it.”
The bill follows the 2014 signings of memorandums of understanding that granted the tribal police departments greater roles in policing their reservations, which include Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun. The memorandums require that tribal police officers be certified by the state Police Officer Standards and Training Council, as are municipal police officers.
“Now you’ve got two police departments trained by POST,” Kane said.
Before that, tribal police lacked the authority to enforce state law on the tribes’ reservations, let alone in another town.
“I remember some situations when I was state’s attorney (in New London) when it would have been helpful,” Kane said of mutual-aid agreements between municipal and tribal police.
He cited no specific incident or situation as the impetus for the bill.
Jeff Hotsky, the Mohegan police chief, is expected to testify in favor of the bill at Thursday’s hearing, which is at 11 a.m. in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
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