Waste Watch: Constables скачать в хорошем качестве

Waste Watch: Constables

by Calvin Sneed  We're taking a look into one of the grayest areas in Tennessee law enforcement -- the job of Constable.  These elected officials have a badge and carry a gun, so you would think they would be subject to the same regulations as police officers and deputies.So what do you need to know?For starters, you need to know that the man with the sidearm may or not be trained in when or how to use it.By all accounts, Constable Ira Cox is one of the good guys.  He's been returned to his job by voters repeatedly, racking up 14 years as a constable and proud of the training he has received to hold the office.  He says he performs a valuable service to the Bradley County Sheriff's Department. "By what we do, papers we serve, the stuff that we do," he says, "we take a load off the Sheriff's Department.Maybe so, but many people know very little about constables.  LaRae Sharpe has lived in Bradley for years and she's one of them.  "Should I need someone and a constable appears at my door, I would like to think they're trained and they know exactly what they're supposed to do."Here's the overview.  Bradley County has 7 constables, elected by district.  It's one of six Tennessee counties in the Newschannel 9 viewing area who have them.  The others are McMinn, Pole, Sequatchie, Marion and Grundy Counties.  Whitfield County, Georgia also has elected constables.Every constable is supposed to get 40 hours of law enforcement training each year.  It's that last item of confirming that training, that's raising an issue.  "We need to know if they have been trained," she says, "and how well they've been trained."Under state law, training can come from one of three sources -- the Sheriff's department, the state constables association or the state constables council.  Checking all these sources, it appears more than half of Bradley's constables have had no training at all this year.  "You mentioned to me on the phone that I have probably encountered one of the biggest questions involving constables," I told Captain Tom Wasson, Bradley County Sheriff's Department Training Officer, who trains sheriff's deputies and any constable who asks for it.  "I do not know," he told me, "because the ones you've contacted may already have their training and they're not disclosing it, so I can't go that far."Captain Wasson says the law does not require the Sheriff's department or any other agency to keep training records or monitor compliance of constables.We found it hard to believe that four of the seven Bradley constables had no training at all, so I reached out to them one by one and here is what I found out:  Jessie Hughes is the only constable with all 40 hours this year.  Wayne Henry has 32 hours so far.  Ira Cox has 34 hours.The other four?     Ed Lewis was elected in August and admits he's had no training since then.  Donnie Hughes and Richard Alford both CLAIM they've had training but cannot prove it by producing their certificates.  Furthermore, the three sources of training deny that Hughes or Alford have been through their programs.  Dewayne Hicks wanted to know why I was asking and hung up on me..    If there's a badge and gun involved, LaRae Sharpe believes there should also be documented training.  "That should be something that they have in their possession all the time," she says, "just like we have drivers' licenses in our possession all the time." She went on.  "Constables should be prepared to show that they are trained and ready to do what they are supposed to do."Henry Brice, the president of the Tennessee Constables Association says, most constables who do not have training or cannot produce proof of training, are not very active, but because the law requires 40 hours, they're still going out on a limb if they cannot show it through paperwork..