Texas Constable

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The Texas Constable is enshrined in the Texas Constitution of 1956(Article 5, Section 18), which provides for the election of a constable in each precinct of a county, and counties may have between one and eight precincts each depending on their population. Currently, the term of office for Texas constables is four years. However, when vacancies arise, the commissioners court of the respective county has the authority to appoint a replacement to serve out the remaining term.

In Texas, constables and their deputies are fully empowered peace officers with county-wide jurisdiction and thus, may legally exercise their authority in any precinct within their county [1][2]; however, some constables’ offices limit themselves to providing law enforcement services only to their respective precinct, except in the case of serving civil and criminal process. Constables and their deputies may serve civil process in any precinct in their county and any contiguous county and can serve warrants anywhere in the state.

The duties of a Texas constable generally include providing bailiffs for the justice of the peace court(s) within his precinct and serving process issued therefrom and from any other court. Moreover, some constables’ offices limit themselves to only these activities but others provide patrol, investigative, and security services as well.

In 2000, there were 2,630 full-time deputies and 418 reserve deputies working for the 760 constables’ offices in Texas. Of this number, 35% were primarily assigned to patrol, 33% to serving process, 12% to court security, and 7% to criminal investigations. The Harris County Precinct 4 and 5 Constables’ Offices are the largest constables’ offices in Texas with over 300 deputies each[3].

Contents

[edit] Harris County

Harris County has roughly 1,000 deputy constables serving among the eight precincts in the county.

  • Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office is generally responsible for security of Harris County buildings in Downtown Houston.
  • The Harris County Toll Road Authority also contracts with Harris County Precinct 1, 4, 5, and 7 Constables' Offices to provide law enforcement services on its tollways.
  • Harris County parks within commissioners precincts 3 and 4 are also patrolled by Harris County Precinct 4 and 5 Constables' Offices.
  • The Houston Housing Authority contracts with Harris County Precinct 6.
  • The University of St. Thomas, a private college located in Houston's Monrose area, contracts with the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's office for security of the university campus.

[edit] History

On March 5, 1823, John Jackson Tumlinson Sr., the first newly elected alcalde of the Colorado District in Stephen F. Austin's first colony in Texas, wrote to the Baron de Bastrop in San Antonio that he had "appointed but one officer who acts in the capacity of constable to summon witnesses and bring offenders to justice." That appointee, Thomas V. Alley, thus became the first Anglo law enforcement officer in the future republic and state of Texas. Other prominent colonists who served as constable included John Austin and James Strange.

The Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836) provided for the election in each county of a sheriff and "a sufficient number of constables." During the ten years of the republic's existence, thirty-eight constables were elected in twelve counties, the first in Nacogdoches County and the largest number (thirteen) in Harrisburg (later Harris) County. Court records indicate that violent crime was rare in the republic, except when horse or cattle thieves entered Texas from Arkansas or Louisiana; most indictments were for nonlethal crimes such as illegal gambling or assaults resulting from fights or scuffles. Juan N. Seguín and Elliott M. Millican both served as constables during the republic.

Shortly after Texas became a state, an act passed by the legislature specified that the constable should be "the conservator of the peace throughout the county," adding that "it shall be his duty to suppress all riots, routs, affrays, fighting, and unlawful assemblies, and he shall keep the peace, and shall cause all offenders to be arrested, and taken before some justice of the peace." Constables were the most active law-enforcement officials in many counties during the early statehood of Texas.

After Texas seceded from the United States in 1861, many county offices, including that of constable, remained unfilled or were filled by men less competent than their predecessors. During the military occupation of Texas after the Civil War, the election of county officials all but ceased, as the Union military appointed more than 200 individuals to state and county offices. A number of these appointees refused to serve; from 1865 to 1869, over one-third of the county offices in Texas were vacant. Many counties had no appointed or elected constables during this period. Austin, DeWitt, Fayette, McLennan, and Navarro counties had but a single constable each, appointed by Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, head of the Fifth Military District, in 1868-69.

Under the Constitution of 1869, a Reconstruction document that centralized many governmental functions, no constables were elected in Texas from 1869 to 1872, though some were appointed by justices of the peace. Many of these appointees lacked experience in handling violent offenders and access to secure jail facilities, and had few deputies to call upon for assistance. They were no match for the poor, embittered, and heavily armed former soldiers from both sides who roamed the state, often turning to crime. As a result, the office of constable began to diminish in importance, and the better-equipped county sheriffs began to assume a leading role in law enforcement. Still, a number of prominent Texas peace officers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries began their careers as constables or deputy constables, including Thomas R. Hickman, George A. Scarborough, and Jess Sweeten. In 1896, while serving as a United States deputy marshal, Scarborough shot and killed the controversial El Paso constable John Selman, who had himself gunned down the notorious John Wesley Hardin in 1895.

The Constitution of 1876, designed to decentralize control of the state government, reduced the power of many state officials and mandated that constables would once again be elected at the precinct level. A 1954 constitutional amendment extended their term of office from two years to four. Today, constables numbering approximately 780 are elected from precincts in most Texas counties. Their law-enforcement roles vary widely, but in general their police powers are no different from those of other peace officers in the state. Complete records do not exist, but the most recent estimate is that at least ninety-three Texas constables have died in the line of duty, including sixty-seven in the twentieth century.

[edit] Notes

  • 1. Precinct boundaries are set by the County Commissioners Court. See Texas Local Government Code §81.021.There are two to eight precints per Texas county.
  • 2. Constables (and the Justice of the Peace, and County Commissioiners) are elected by these precincts and they must provide bailiffs for the Justice Court(s) in their precinct.
  • 3. 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.
  • 4. Moreover, they can serve warrants throughout the state. See Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 15.06.
  • 5. 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.
  • 6. 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, (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, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) the regulatory agency for all peace officers in Texas (sheriffs, constables, security police, police officers and marshals) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice considers the Texas Constable to be a unique peace officer position.

[edit] See also

Texas Portal

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924-28).
  • Allen G. Hatley, Texas Constables, A Frontier Heritage (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 1999).