City marshals; qualifications, prohibitions

§ 1601-a. City marshals; qualifications, prohibitions. 1. a. No person shall assume the office of city marshal on or after the effective date of this section unless he or she: (i) shall have earned a high school diploma or its equivalent; (ii) shall have satisfactorily completed, as of the date of his or her appointment, a training program; and (iii) shall have demonstrated that he or she has obtained or will be able to obtain a bond in the amount prescribed by this article. Prior service as a marshal for a period of two years or more shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement that a marshal has obtained a high school diploma or its equivalent as a condition to qualifying for appointment.

b. The appellate division shall promulgate rules and regulations which specify what constitutes an acceptable training program and shall either establish such a program or provide for its establishment. Such rules and regulations shall set forth with particularity standards for performance which must be met by participants in the program in order that they may satisfactorily complete such program. The appellate division shall provide for the proper issuance of a certificate of satisfactory completion of training, which shall be submitted to the committee on marshals established pursuant to this article.

2. a. Except as provided by paragraph b of this subdivision, no marshal shall actively engage or participate in any other occupation or employment, nor shall any marshall engage or participate in any trade or business which creates or might tend to create an actual or potential conflict of interest. No marshal or member of his or her immediate family shall maintain any financial interest, direct or indirect, in a process serving agency, a towing company or a furniture moving and storage company. A violation of any of the provisions of this subdivision shall be cause for discipline, including removal pursuant to the procedures specified in section sixteen hundred ten of this article. For purposes of this subdivision, "immediate family" means spouse, parent, child, stepchild or sibling.

b. During any period of suspension pending a hearing on charges provided for by section sixteen hundred ten of this article, a marshal may actively engage in another occupation or employment, provided that such occupation or employment does not create or does not tend to create an actual or potential conflict of interest.