I am amazed at how cavalier a few Constable Candidates seem to be about the elected office they are seeking.

The Constable is a constitutional office created to serve the people. Political attacks on the office have failed recently because the public feels they need the office and appreciate having the security of a neighbor that is a certified police officer to call upon, especially if they are not satisfied with the response from other area agencies.

Taking an oath of office and a paycheck from the taxpayers, only to later do nothing for your neighbors that voted you in office, is unethical and irresponsible. The size of the paycheck does not remove the responsibility to the office.

I urge candidates such as Dale Evans, Tim Freeman, and Charlie Brooks to withdraw your names from the election for Constable if statements in the newspaper made by each of you are accurate.

Failing to serve the office and the people you would represent is not to be taken lightly and is un-American. Make way for candidates that would actually seek the legally required training, or are already fulltime certified as me and many other candidates are today.

We promise to serve you to the best of our ability, and to honor the constitution of our state as a Constable. I trust those persons with the vision and determination to map out our state and constitution were wise in establishing the office as a checks and balances approach to the Sherriff, an office which to this day has no requirements to be elected but has luckily attracted well qualified and well liked people to the position such as current Washington Co Sherriff Tim Helder.

I will await the voice of my constituents to see if they prefer a Constable that works everyday assisting other officers and making felony arrests for his paycheck, or whether they would prefer to elect someone that admits publicly he will do nothing but hold an office and take the tax payers money.

I am hopeful that the public is fed up with do-nothing politicians.

I would also like point out that AR State Law ACA 14-14-1314 requires current Constables in office to have completed the required certification by ALETA to have law enforcement powers. Newly elected Constables must receive a training of between 120 and 160 hours in a Constable class designed by ALETA or attend full time officer training to meet the new legal requirements. Since the Part Time Officer II class is a 100 hour class and is for officers working less than 20 hours per week under supervision of a certified officer, then that class would not meet the legal requirements as set forth under state law. The short of it is, since ALETA has yet to develop a Constable course, all new Constables must attend full time officer training to meet the guidelines unless they were holding office in 2007 when the legislation passed and the Constable meets the previous exceptions.

Posted by: XfiveO

April 6, 2010 at 5:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )