Talk:Constable

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This talk page contains harsh comments by unsigned users that were not needed, wikipedia (and the law enforcement wikiproject particularly) are not the place for such comments.--SGGH 14:06, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I promise you, in the U.S., a Constable is a different position than Patrol officer (although the UK definition of constable = patrol officer is correct). Do a Google search on County Constable and you'll see what I mean. For some reason, the first two dozen pages or so all correspond to the state of Texas, but digging deeper shows other states have the same position. RADICALBENDER★ 06:22, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Wrong again. Read the texas constitution: they are at the precint level. There are approximately 780 texas constibles at the precint level in 254 Texas counties. If you werent' so busy sticking your nose in other articles to revert qualified edits you might have learned this easily accessible information without being force fed. I don't like you.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/txconst/sections/cn000500-001800.html

There are 23 constable precints in Maricopa County Arizona alone. Far more than the one sheriff, currently Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Constables duties are quite distinct from those of patrol officers or of county sheriffs. But what the hey, you got a kick out of seeing your words appear on the internet, so what does it matter if they are wrong, huh?

Yep, getting that all-important edit number up is far more important than researching and submitting accurate information. I even had time between ridiculing the rampant misinformation on this site to find this page: http://www.aele.org/constable.html , which states:

their powers differ somewhat among the various states, although their statutory powers are usually in addition to their English common law authority. They serve civil process (summonses, subpoenas and orders) and writs (attachments, garnishments, and replevins). They also evict tenants after a civil action is brought to remove them, and collect civil judgments by seizing and selling a debtor's personal property. Constables also serve arrest and search warrants issued by the Justice Court.

In Alabama, some precincts still elect a constable but this office may be abolished by local option, so User:RadicalBender is apparently getting his jollies misinforming Alabama students about their state's political structure and history.

And what about New Jersey, Deleware (originally at township level, now varied), Tennessee. Doesn't matter. Good enough. Kids in those states can look it up in a real encyclopedia, or get a bad grade for being stupid enough to beleive Wikipedia is generally accurate even though no controlled editorial process assures the accuracy of information. I suppose counting the number of google hits for "county constable" and being well-liked at Wikipedia is good enough to make a constable a county-level official though, if the right person advances the lie.

As far as your comments go, in reference to Texas, since you brought it up first, yes, the counties are divided into precincts, but that doesn't mean anything because the district boundaries don't apply to anything. And guess who sets those boundaries in the first place? The county. And since the counties are charged with determining precinct boundaries (when applicable - smaller counties don't have precincts), constables are officers of the county. That's why they call themselves "Dallas County Constable" or "Bexar County Constable" or what have you.

Secondly, as far as everything else goes: guess what? This will likely come as no surprise to you, but I don't know everything. Neither do you. Sometimes information is incorrect. But, you know what? Thousands of things are changed daily on Wikipedia and everyone else doesn't lambast people in the Summary box or the Talk page. You know what everyone else does? Rather than make themselves feel superior by trying their best to insult or humiliate the original author or their intent, they fix and/or add to the information.

When I first added the header on Constable in the U.S., it was done with the intent that future people who knew more would come along, add and edit to the information far more than I ever could. You, on the other hand, deleted the whole section completely, which meant that the section could never have improved. You may not like the idea that everything here is a work in progress or that (gasp!) something may be incorrect until it is fixed, but that's the way it is. Wikipedia is an ongoing work in progress. If something is wrong, fix it, don't snipe about it. If that concept rubs you the wrong way, sorry, that's just the nature of an open encyclopedia. I'm not here to debate you on the finer points of the concept of Wikipedia. That said, if you choose to be here, you'll have to follow the rules like everyone else, so no more insults, allright? RADICALBENDER★ 14:25, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Guess what? You're a Blue-blooded Texas nazi punk who likes it here because you don't have to measure up to any standard and you can blow hard making up rules that don't exist so Fuck you very much. Deleting the section does't mean shit because anybody else can come along and load it again. And precints are set by state legislature following each decennial census, not by a county. So fuck your wrong ass again. And guess what else. Lots of people come along and make fun of people who contribute half truths and the insults are a good thing because they tend to increase the anxiety that goes with contributing false information, so consider yourself notified that you are being Wikistalked for evidence of casual misinformation for maybe no other reason than that someone told me this is a great way to have fun while improving the quality of information. And if you don't like it you can fuck yourself. And if I don't like what is happening at Wikipedia, maybe myself and a couple dozen other operatives will simply apply pressure until it gradually changes to better suit our liking. And if you don't like that you can also fuck yourself. Get the idea? Because see, there is light and there is dark and each is part of life and I can be as dark as I choose and all you can do about it if you can't run with the big dogs is to stay under the porch or maybe try harder to submit accurate information.

[edit] The Truth about the Texas Constable

There is a lot of misinformation in this discussion concerning Texas constables, so let me clear it up with the facts.

Constable precinct boundaries are set by the County Commissioners Court. See Texas Local Government Code §81.021. Constables are elected by these precincts and they must provide bailiffs for the Justice Court(s) in their precinct. That is the only significance of the precinct boundaries. They can also serve civil process in any precinct in their county and any contiguous county to their home county. See Texas Local Government Code §86.021. Moreover, they can serve warrants throughout the state. See Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 15.06. Furthermore, their jurisdiction to arrest, without warrant, extends throughout the county, where they have full arrest powers. See Texas Local Government Code §86.021 and Texas Attorney General’s Opinion GA-0189. They also have full arrest powers outside of their jurisdiction, while in the state, except that they can’t arrest for certain traffic violations. See Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 14.03(g).

Finally, constables and their deputies in Texas are full-fledged, “real” law enforcement officers. They must graduate from a state-certified law enforcement academy and in Texas, it does not matter what type of peace officer you are. All types of peace officers must be trained to the same state requirement. They also have the same powers of arrest and jurisdiction of sheriffs and their deputies. In the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2000, which was published by the US DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, it was noted that there were 2,630 full-time, sworn constables/deputy constables in Texas. Of this number, the plurality (35%) of constables/deputy constables were primarily assigned to patrol duties. For example, in Harris County Precinct 4 and 5 (Greater Houston area), there are over 600 patrol deputies. Additionally, 7% handled criminal investigations, i.e. they are detectives and investigators.

Also, TCLEOSE, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education, serves as the regulatory agency for ALL peace officers in Texas, which includes Sheriffs, Constables, Security Police, Police Officers and Marshals. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, US DOJ, which see, also considers the Texas Constable to be a unique peace officer position.--68.81.105.166 00:58, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Pennsylvania Constables: Are non-emergency officers governed by the executive office of the Govenor. We have full arrest authority, but our primary duties consist of civil and criminal process, prison transport, and court security for the minor judiciary

[edit] Kentucky Infomation is Way Off

Kentucky Constables have powers similar to sheriffs and there power is countywide as is the sheriffs. The county court cannot limit the power of the constable as it is a constitutional office. The only power they have is whether or not they may use blue lights in their county.

Also they do not need to be trained or attend the academy. The deputy constable appoints must be approved through the county only if their county is available to have constable by statute. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.19.219.173 (talk • contribs) 06:03, June 17, 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:07, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I am the editor who added the Kentucky section. I was working on basic knowledge and assumptions made based on some recent situations involving constables. But as jpgordan stated above, if my information is incorrect, feel free to edit it. It won't hurt my feelings and, in fact, editors correcting each others mistakes is the part of the true spirit of Wikipedia. Dblevins2 14:49, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology of 'Cop'

I took the liberty of removing a small statement to the effect that in America police officers of constable equivalent rank are called 'cops' meaning 'Constable On Patrol'. This is folk etymology. 'Cop' is simply a shortened form of 'copper', a term that's been in use for police officers and their predecessors in Britain for centuries, and which originates with the Latin word capere, meaning to capture or apprehend. But, on reflection, I thought it best to remove the statement since it linked in to the term 'cop' or 'copper' but without the folk explanation it didn't really have any specific link to 'constable'. - Adaru 03:04, 2 November 2006 (UTC)