Constables gone amok?

This Grits for Breakfast Texas justice blog article questions whether the Texas constables offices should still exist. The blog article references two Dallas Morning News articles; one which addresses the Dallas County Constable Offices' increased roll in traffic enforcement and (illegal?) vehicle impoundments, with the resulting massive increase in revenues for the offices; and another which addresses the constables overall mission creep into additional areas like drug enforcement and employment of tactical units, functions usually handled by the Police Departments or Sheriff's Offices.

The blogger, Scott Henson, is a former UT student and an associate editor of The Texas Observer, so his views and writings generally lean to the left. In this article, however, Scott appeals to the public in general, saying, "...this isn't a particularly partisan issue, or it shouldn't be, but really a matter of basic good governance."

He states that he agrees with others who believe that that many of the constable's duties are duplicated unnecessarily by local police departments and sheriff's offices, and that in many respects, the constables have less oversight than the police and sheriff.

He is highly critical of the practice of differed dispositions and one day probationary periods used...at least by Dallas County constables and JP courts...to coerce people in to rapidly paying traffic fines uncontested, and views this practice as a "money grab".

He further relates that, when the criminal justice system is viewed more as a revenue generation entity, public safety actually suffers. Scott also thinks that the constables offices in Texas will eventually go the way of the dinasaur.

The two Dallas Morning News articles referenced in Scott's blog certainly document and illustrate the claims he makes about mission creep, duplication, and a focus on revenue generation over public safety...at least in some of the larger counties in Texas. He's right that the constables have little oversight and function pretty much autonomously, allowing them to expand into rolls typically filled by PD and SO without express authority. However, as one of the DMN articles highlights, most rural constables offices remain small and primarily stick to the rolls of process serving, evictions, and light traffic enforcement. They are generally complimentary to other local law enforcement, and still fill a niche that the the other organizations would rather leave to the constables.

Also, as indicated in the DMN articles, there are now legislative efforts to limit the constable's Texas statutory role. And although the missions of the constables in some of the more urban counties may be eventually paired down or realigned to PD or SO, I don't think the positions should go the way of the County Inspector of Hides and Animals, as Scott suggests.

Constables are a Texas tradition, and are still valuable when employed in their traditional roles; especially in the more rural counties.