So What's a Constable around here?

[Praesul Presul]

See a lot of constable marked cars lately especially in the vicinity of LSP hq and got me wondering. Growing up in another state they were elected officials with the same power as the Sheriff but had to self finance all their needs. Depending on the county's population determined how many constable districts you had. I don't believe they had to be POST-certified. A little googling makes is appear it is about the same here but that maybe its a new thing.

Several of my LEO buddies growing up said they liked them from the standpoint that they served a majority of the warrants as they had to make money somehow and it freed them up from having to get shot doing it.

I've never seen a constable election on the ballot here though....

 

[GClifton]

Same as a city marshal, every city court is suppose to have a city marshal. Duties are courtroom security, probation, prisoner transport, arrest warrants, processing services, civil etc. Powers are the same as a deputy sheriff etc. Major Brown (retired from EBRSO) is the elected constable for EBR.

 

[Nolacopusmc]

Same as a city marshal, every city court is suppose to have a city marshal. Duties are courtroom security, probation, prisoner transport, arrest warrants, processing services, civil etc. Powers are the same as a deputy sheriff etc. Major Brown (retired from EBRSO) is the elected constable for EBR.

That is not entirely correct.

See a lot of constable marked cars lately especially in the vicinity of LSP hq and got me wondering. Growing up in another state they were elected officials with the same power as the Sheriff but had to self finance all their needs. Depending on the county's population determined how many constable districts you had. I don't believe they had to be POST-certified. A little googling makes is appear it is about the same here but that maybe its a new thing.

Several of my LEO buddies growing up said they liked them from the standpoint that they served a majority of the warrants as they had to make money somehow and it freed them up from having to get shot doing it.

I've never seen a constable election on the ballot here though....

Do your research here: http://ag.state.la.us/Article.aspx?articleID=27&catID=11

Constablers are often referred to as "civil sheriff's" although most have full criminal arrest powers.

While the above is correct in many larger cities, like New Orleans, even though they ahave been or are in the process of consolidating the criminal and civil sheriff's office, generally a constable handles evictions, process serving, and civil matters.

They generally do not handle court security unless they are contracted to do so for some reason. Again, each area handles it a little differently.

My father has been a constable for about 8 years now, and he mainly does evictions, and serves warrants and subpoenas. However, he can and has made arrest and written tickets and summons.

You will see constables in larger areas take on a more traditional law enforcement role in larger cities.

 

[jms]

My neighbor is the constable here in my location. His duties come mainly from what the Justice of the peace orders him to do. J.O.P. main job is small claim civil suits.

 

[GClifton]

In louisiana a constable and marshal are the same when they are employed for a city court. Constable Brown was considering changing his office to City Marshal but the expense for paper work, letter head and graphics on his units was too much.
I'm retired Le (33 years full time) and now working full time for a City Marshal's Office.

Every city court, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Bossier city, Alexandria, Shereveport etc. has a city marshal or "city" constable.

Where you have a local constable (small communities), you have a justice of the peace instead of a city judge. See below regarding Lafayette's website.

http://www.lafayettemarshal.com/home.htm

 

[Praesul Presul]

Hmmm now I am confused as Google made it look similar to what I am accustomed. Where I grew up the sheriff's deputies did court security (city of about 50,000) and constables were basically uneducated elected sheriff's deputies (county of 90,000 and we had three constables).

Ooh yeah, one important note - these constables answered to no one directly

 

[Rahllin]

My cousin is a Jefferson Parish constable and has been for a few terms. The majority of his work is usually serving evictions. He told me that if I moved out by him he could make me a deputy constable and put me through the process to get POST certified so I would be able to carry on evictions.

 

[Nolacopusmc]

In louisiana a constable and marshal are the same when they are employed for a city court. Constable Brown was considering changing his office to City Marshal but the expense for paper work, letter head and graphics on his units was too much.
I'm retired Le (33 years full time) and now working full time for a City Marshal's Office.

Every city court, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Bossier city, Alexandria, Shereveport etc. has a city marshal or "city" constable.

Where you have a local constable (small communities), you have a justice of the peace instead of a city judge. See below regarding Lafayette's website.

http://www.lafayettemarshal.com/home.htm

Yeah, there is a difference between the city constable / city marshals you speak of and a parish constable that works in conjunction with a justice of the peace. Basically, the parish constable is the enforcment arm of the justice of the peace which is most closely related to a civil court.

 

[Tim67]

In BR, I'm not sure what the constable's official duties may be, but what they actually do is pretty much limited to serving summonses. Outside the city limits, deputy Sheriffs carry out those duties.

 

[GClifton]

Basically I do more civil than criminal. Court room security at least twice a week and the rest of the time I'm serving papers, civil suits, garnishments, evictions, subpoenas or seizing property. We also have thousands of bench warrants. I worked detectives for thirty years and this job is a lot less stressful, but I do feel sorry for a lot of people who are going through hard times, this can be depressing.