Opn. No. ( 1981 )

Stuart M. Pearis, Esq. Town Attorney, Maine

You have asked whether a State parole officer may be appointed to a vacancy in the office of one of the town justices.

The Uniform Justice Court Act provides in section 105 (c):

"No town or village justice selected for a term of office commencing on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-five, shall engage in or accept any employment as a ``peace officer' or a ``police officer', as those terms are defined in the criminal procedure law."

A parole officer is a peace officer (Criminal Procedure Law, § 2.10 [23]). Therefore, a parole officer may not be appointed a town justice and retain his position as a parole officer.