NORWAY – Selectmen voted Thursday to give Norway police officers the authority to make arrests outside the town of Norway. Acting police Chief Rob Federico said that the vote would help to ensure that arrests hold up in court.

“We don’t want to go out there and start making arrests in other towns,” Federico said. “We certainly have enough to do in our own town.”

But there are occasions when a police officer is at the scene of a crime outside the limits of his or her town, and this measure gives those officers the authority to act.

Federico said that recently a Norway police officer was driving through the town of Paris when he heard a call about a possible drunk driver. The officer saw the vehicle in question and pursued it until a Paris officer arrived. The officer from Paris, however, felt that the Norway officer should follow through and make the arrest.

When the case went to court, the district attorney argued that the officer from Norway had no authority to make an arrest in the case, since the town had not been called to aid in the arrest.

“More and more, we are going to have this kind of case,” Federico said. He noted that a chase can easily lead officers from town to town, and even out of the county.

Selectman Robert Walker, saying that “the handcuffs should not be on them,” made the motion as worded in the Statewide Arrest Powers Law, authorizing Norway police officers to perform arrests as based on that section of the criminal code when outside the town.

In other business, neighbors of Aaron Fuda complained to the board about the lack of improvement to the Fuda property since it was found to be in violation of the state’s junkyard law last fall.

Town Manager David Holt said that Fuda has submitted receipts to the code enforcement officer showing that tires have been removed from the property. However, “the property is still found to be in violation by the code officer,” Holt said.

Holt said, “We’re well past May 1st,” the deadline agreed to last fall, “so now it’s time to go further with our enforcement.” The board authorized the code enforcement officer to take legal action in the matter.

Selectmen also asked that residents remove yard sale signs in a timely fashion this summer.