[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Nassau 9-9-87 as L.L. No. 1-1987. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Village Board of Trustees of the Village of Nassau, County of Rensselaer, State of New York, pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law and the Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York, hereby enacts the following chapter to authorize a public servant, who is neither a peace officer nor a police officer, to issue appearance tickets.
A. 
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to provide authorization of public servants, as hereinafter defined, to serve upon a person an appearance ticket with respect to designated offenses of less than felony grade when the former have reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed a misdemeanor or has committed a petty offense. This procedure requires the offender to appear in the designated court upon a designated return date to answer a charge, which the issuer of the appearance ticket shall file with the court within forty-eight (48) hours following the issuance. In terms of basic intent, this appearance ticket is used as a compassionate substitute for formal arrest pursuant to a summons or information or arrest without a warrant in situations where no formal charges have been lodged.
B. 
The advantages of this method of procedure are several:
(1) 
It removes the threat of legal repercussions upon a public servant faithfully discharging his duties.
(2) 
It relieves police officers or peace officers from the time and expense of processing offenses of less than felony grade.
(3) 
It relieves the offender who is known to be a resident of the village or someone with good reputation therein from the ominous, humiliating and frequently expensive arrest procedure otherwise required.
(4) 
It reduces to a minimum the necessity of incarceration and/or bail in the initial stages.
C. 
The disadvantage, in general, is that the injudicious use of appearance tickets might permit offenders to escape prosecution by flight and concealment; however, it is noted that the appearance ticket procedure is not appearance for felony cases, and, in any event, the procedure is not mandatory but permissive.
Unless the context shall otherwise require, the terms, phrases and words and their derivatives used in this chapter shall have the same meanings as those defined in Article 150 of the Criminal Procedure Law.
This chapter shall authorize issuance of an appearance ticket by a public servant who, by virtue of office, title or position, is authorized or required to enforce any statute, local law, ordinance, rule or regulation relating to parking, junk vehicles, licensing of occupations or businesses, fire prevention and safety, health and sanitation, animals and building, zoning and planning; provided, however, that a peace officer may be authorized to issue an appearance ticket relating to the enforcement of any statute, local law, ordinance, rule or regulation affecting the public health, safety and welfare.