Who polices Sterling
Sterling has no municipal police department. Coverage comes from Connecticut State Police Troop D, so every arrest here is a state police arrest.
Route 14 runs through the town to the Rhode Island line, and the line is the thing worth understanding. Which side of it you were on when the arrest happened decides which state prosecutes you, not where you live or where you were going. A Sterling arrest is a Connecticut case under Connecticut law, however short the distance to the border.
Where your case goes
Sterling cases are heard at Danielson Superior Court, GA 11, north at 120 School Street. If you live over the line in Rhode Island, that is the courthouse you are coming to, and a Rhode Island attorney cannot appear for you here unless they are admitted in Connecticut.
Let go, you keep the date you were handed. Held, court comes the next business day.
After the arrest
Troopers either release you on a written promise to appear or after a bond, or hold you for court the next business day. If you live over the line, note that being let go ends nothing: the date on your paperwork is a Connecticut court date and it binds you. The arrest page and the bond and bail page cover booking and the bond.
Hold your account of the incident until a Connecticut attorney has heard it, and treat custody calls as taped.
A family violence arrest is heard the next business day either way, with a protective order that can shut you out of a house across the state line as readily as one here. The arraignment page and the what to expect page cover the rest.
Common charges in Sterling
Route 14 traffic gives DUI and drug possession the leading share of a small Sterling docket at GA 11, with assault, domestic violence and family violence, and larceny and shoplifting behind them. For anyone who lives out of state, a diversionary program ending in dismissal is worth asking about early, because a Connecticut conviction shows on background checks wherever you live.