Some see need for constable reform

District justices in Lawrence and Mercer counties said they use constables and were not aware of any complaints about them.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORT

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Valerie Hubbard was half asleep in her 11-year-old son’s bedroom just before midnight when three constables crashed through the locked first-floor door of her apartment house.

She did not know they were there to arrest her for unpaid parking tickets.

“I was scared to death,” she said. “They made me feel like I was a real criminal, like I had done this terrible thing.”

In 1998, state prosecutors asked the Pennsylvania Legislature to regulate and rein in constables, citing complaints around the state of constables being too heavy-handed or in many cases acting criminally. But lawmakers balked; constables are independent contractors who are elected locally and carry out work for local judges, and they did not want to interfere with local control.

Ten years later, despite some local tightening of regulations, the system remains plagued by problems that continue to demonstrate a need for reform, The Associated Press found. In a review of court records, government files and news accounts, the AP was able to identify dozens of cases of serious misconduct by constables over the past decade.

There are virtually no qualifications to hold the office. Constable duties include making arrests for warrants, serving civil papers and transporting prisoners for the low-level district courts. The constables’ unusual legal status as independent contractors means they exercise considerable legal authority with virtually no supervision or accountability.

Many judges, prosecutors and police officers believe oversight and standards are too weak — and some of the state’s longest-serving and most respected constables agree.

“The good constables, which are the majority, want those bad apples out,” said Chuck Benhayon, a Bucks County constable who serves on the Constables’ Education and Training Board.

State law allows for removal of constables by county president judges under certain circumstances, but the procedure is rarely used. Some believe the existing removal procedure would help address the problems if it were employed more often.

“I don’t think anybody wants to get involved, to be honest with you,” said Thornton Constable Jack Esher, president of the Pennsylvania State Constables Association. “I think the process for fixing it is already in place. I think that they’re just not doing it.”

The precise number of constables who hold office in Pennsylvania is unclear. Ten years ago, the National Constables Association counted some 6,000 Pennsylvania constables among nearly 13,000 nationwide.

Only about 1,200 Pennsylvania constables have completed the training and maintained the liability insurance required to perform court-related duties, according to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. About 800 others have voluntarily registered with the commission but are not certified for court work.

Constables are independent contractors under a 1991 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that moved them out of the judiciary and into the executive branch. Their duties are spelled out in state law, and some counties have imposed their own sets of regulations.

The state crime commission oversees what limited training currently exists: 120 hours for new constables who also want to carry a gun — compared with the more than 750 hours of basic training required for both deputy sheriffs and police officers. They are elected to six-year terms.

For all the problems with constables, court officials describe most of them as honest and hardworking, and there is agreement that increased training requirements have improved their level of professionalism over the past 15 years. They handle a massive amount of work for the district judges, who preside over traffic cases, less serious crimes and minor civil disputes and arraign and set bail for those accused of more significant offenses.

District justices in Lawrence and Mercer counties said they use constables and were not aware of any complaints about them.

District Justice Lorinda Hinch, whose office is in Mercer, said the Valerie Hubbard case should not have happened.

“Obviously, breaking into someone’s house, even if it was legal, would offend normal sensibilities,” she said.

“I don’t think you can go into somebody’s house and serve a summary warrant,” she said. “I can’t imagine any of today’s constables doing this.”

Hinch, whose jurisdiction includes the borough of Mercer and the central part of Mercer County, said she uses constables to serve warrants only for summary offenses, which are crimes that don’t rise to the level of misdemeanors and felonies.

Examples are traffic violations and disorderly conduct, she said.

She said the constables mostly deal with people who don’t respond to citations or who haven’t paid fines. She also uses them to serve papers in civil cases and to execute the sale of property after a judgment. She said there are four constables who work for her — two steadily. They do not have law enforcement backgrounds.

District Judge Jennifer Nicholson’s jurisdiction includes the sixth ward of New Castle; Union, Mahoning, North Beaver and Taylor townships; and Bessemer.

She said her office uses four constables, two with law enforcement background and two without, for serving warrants and posting property in landlord-tenant cases. She also said her office uses constables to serve papers in civil cases if people are hard to find.

The constables, she said, have to be certified and carry liability insurance. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency offers training at different universities, confirmed one of her constables, Chris Hall, who is also a deputy sheriff.

Nicholson said that one of her constables has indicated he might quit because his liability insurance is too costly.

“Every county that utilizes constables [is] getting more than their money’s worth,” said Esher, head of the constables’ association. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be giving them the work that they’re giving them.”

Constables are elected in the area where they live but can work anywhere in the state.

Under state law, constables are paid according to a schedule that, for example, gives them $38 to transport an incarcerated prisoner — plus mileage and $13 an hour — and $25 to serve a criminal warrant. Most of their payments come from court fees paid by defendants.

Despite having to pay their own overhead, some constables do quite well under the current system: an AP analysis of Pennsylvania court system records showed 33 constables earned at least $70,000 last year. Ten earned more than $100,000.