HISTORY OF THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE           

Say the words, "Police" or "Officer", and most people have a pretty good concept of what you are talking about: sirens, uniforms, red and blue lights, handcuffs, traffic tickets, gang units, swat teams, and TV shows such as, "COPS" or "CHiPs".

Say the words, "Sheriff" or "Deputy", and they are still pretty confident of themselves: star shaped badge, big western hats, boots, county jail, traffic tickets, citations, subpoenas, k-9 units, lots of political newspaper coverage, and as seen on the TV show "America's Most Wanted".

But say the word "Constable", and the meaning of the word to the general public becomes less clear. It brings up images of England, Sir Robert Peel, or Sherlock Holmes. Voters know that qualified people often campaign for the office of Constable. They know it is a modern day elected official for the local county government. "BUT WHAT DO THEY DO?"

Most people are unaware, or have no idea what the Constable and his deputies duties consist of. For example, Encarta Encyclopedia defines a Constable as:

Constable, (Latin comes stabuli, "count of the stable"), low-ranking British police officer. In medieval Europe, a constable was an officer of the king, originally responsible for army stores and stabling, and later responsible for the army in the king's absence. In England the constable subsequently became an official at a sheriff's court of law, leading to the title's current meaning.

In the early history of the Republic of Texas the office of Constable was created by the Texas Constitution and can be found in Article 5 Section 18. The Constables were the law enforcement arm replacing the Spanish style military policing organization, thereby pre-dating even the Texas Rangers. The Constable and Sheriff were lead by Stephen F. Austin with the authorization of Philip Hendrick Nering Bogel known as, "Baron de Bastrop" in San Antonio. At that time, as they are today, the Constables were elected by popular vote within their jurisdiction.

The current duties of the modern day Constable and his deputies are to preserve the peace within his precinct and county. The Constable and his deputies are fully licensed Texas Peace Officers who have at least the minimum 576 hours of classroom and tactical training required by the State of Texas to become a peace officer. In addition to the minimum 576 hours required by the State of Texas, they are also mandated to take a 20 hour course in Civil Process every 2 years, which is not presently required to be taken by police officers. Constables have all the power and responsibility of any peace officer in the state. They may write tickets, make arrests, conduct investigations, and file criminal charges. However, they have additional enforcement responsibilities such as; serving and executing Civil Court orders from the Justice of the Peace Courts, District Courts, County Courts, and out of County Court Orders.

In other words, although the job of the Constable and his deputies deal mainly with civil litigation and are considered to be the Officer's of the Courts, they are highly trained and ready to deal with any type of criminal activity within the precinct or throughout the county.

The Constable is indeed "The People's Police Officer"