The purpose of this chapter is to set forth the historical origins of the Nissequogue Police Department (the "Department"); to codify the several actions taken by the Board of Trustees (the "Board") in the establishment and subsequent development of the Department so that the same will become a permanent part of the Code of the Village of Nissequogue, Suffolk County, New York, adopted April 5, 1988 (the "Code"); and to provide for the Department's restructuring. To the extent necessary to effectuate the purpose of this chapter, it is the intent of the Board to supersede § 4-400, Subdivision 1h, and § 8-800 of the Village Law of the State of New York.
A Village Police Force was established June 28, 1926, and a Chief of Police was designated on July 2, 1948, by resolutions of the Board, both actions having been taken pursuant to the provisions of § 188 of the then Village Law.
A recodification of New York Village Law in 1972 eliminated the distinction between a police force and a police department existing in old §§ 188 and 188-a of said law and, by the provisions of new § 8-800 thereof, empowered villages to "establish a police department . . . and appoint such personnel as may be needed...."
On April 19, 1979, the Board enacted Nissequogue Local Law No. 2 of the year 1979 whereby the post of Chief of Police was abolished, the Village Police Force was redesignated a Police Department and the Mayor, as Police Commissioner (the "Commissioner"), was vested with the responsibility for Department administration. The Department, as so constituted, continues its existence under Village Law § 8-800, but is not subject to the amendment thereto effective August 2, 1985 (L. 1985, c. 810, § 1), which has been interpreted to require that a Chief of Police be appointed, because the Village of Nissequogue is exempted from said amendment by virtue of the applicability provisions of Chapter 810, Section 2, of the Laws of 1985. By this chapter, it is the intent of the Board to confirm the continued vitality of Nissequogue Local Law No. 2 of the year 1979, and to state that the same should be deemed to supersede Village Law § 8-800, amended as aforesaid.