NY State Supreme Court says PA Constables are LEOs

[MP_Steve]

that sheriff office did anything BUT jails and court.

In Maine for instance, if the Governor has his way, the Sheriff's Offices won't even be doing that. Strictly patrol and investigations. :rolleyes:

[GoDirectly2Jail]

Really? I know in the Tidewater area the sheriff only does jail and court duties. When I told another agent (who is from the Hampton Roads area) I started off working PT for a sheriff's office he asked me what it was like to work in a jail. I told him, "No clue, never worked in one." It was a foreign concept to him that sheriff office did anything BUT jails and court.

What you said is true for the beach and surrounding areas, which have PD's, but other areas in Virginia have "full-service" sheriff's offices that do patrol, investigations, jail, courts, civil process and everything in between. The surrounding counties of Richmond are a good example of this: Hanover, Goochland, Caroline, Spotylvania, Dinwiddie, New Kent, King William, King George, Charles City and Lousa are all examples of Sheriff's Offices that run the road, conduct investigations, etc.

A good rule of thumb is, if there's a PD, then the SO is generally relegated to courts, jail and civil process.

[mcsap]

PA Constables are elected. They only have a 2 week training , not an acadamy.

There are no written tests, interviews or physical agility tests needed to get elected.

They cannot run emergency lights on their cars. NO sirens or wig-wags etc.

They cannot run red lights or speed etc.

They cannot make a traffic stop.

They are not disptached to calls for service like the police are.

They have no HQ.

They cannot write a traffic ticket , even for parking.

They can make certain on-view arrests for crimes committed but cannot handle and file the charges, they would have to turn them over to the police.

They mainly go pick people up on outstanding warrants and serve court papers.

They couldn't fill out an accident report to save their life.

They cannot get a search warrant.

They cannot get an arrest warrant.

They could not request a drunk to submit to a legal blood sample.

They provide a good support service to the police but are NOT the police.

The PA FOP does not recognize them as a police officer and they canot join our FOP as an active member.




They are LEO but not police officers. The difference in PA is that a LEO has specific authority to to specific law enforcement ( think a Game Warden who can only handle game laws) vs. a police officer who has broad and full arrest powers.

[Kimble]

A good rule of thumb is, if there's a PD, then the SO is generally relegated to courts, jail and civil process.

Interesting. I guess the confusion lies in the fact that back home in AL, even with PD's in nearly all cities (some small underfunded cities contracted out to the county or state), all SO's that I know of were full-service LE departments: patrol, investigations, SWAT, jail, courts, and everything in-between.

[Joeyd6]

Interesting. I guess the confusion lies in the fact that back home in AL, even with PD's in nearly all cities (some small underfunded cities contracted out to the county or state), all SO's that I know of were full-service LE departments: patrol, investigations, SWAT, jail, courts, and everything in-between.

ROS

It is like that here in NY, outisde of NY City. The SO's have
1) Court Security
2) Jail/Corrections
3) Enforcement (patrol, SWT, investigations,)
4) Civil Division

They do it all! There may be a county with 10 cities towns and villages, each with a PD. That county still has a full service SO's and the State Police. Everyone is responsible and can work the areas. Not uncommon to see a SO in the middle of a city enforcing things upstate.

[phantasm]

ROS

It is like that here in NY, outisde of NY City. The SO's have
1) Court Security
2) Jail/Corrections
3) Enforcement (patrol, SWT, investigations,)
4) Civil Division

They do it all! There may be a county with 10 cities towns and villages, each with a PD. That county still has a full service SO's and the State Police. Everyone is responsible and can work the areas. Not uncommon to see a SO in the middle of a city enforcing things upstate.

To make it more confusing. In Nassau county the sheriff's dept are corrections officers doing prisoner transports and the jails. In Suffolk county the sheriff's dept does the jails and are COs, but the deputy sheriff's are police officers, do patrol, transports, and courts, and fall under the sheriff's department. They are separate from the Suffolk county PD which also does patrol.

All 3 positions (NCSD, SCSD, SCDS) are all civil service positions.

[MP_Steve]

To make it more confusing. In Nassau county the sheriff's dept are corrections officers doing prisoner transports and the jails. In Suffolk county the sheriff's dept does the jails and are COs, but the deputy sheriff's are police officers, do patrol, transports, and courts, and fall under the sheriff's department. They are separate from the Suffolk county PD which also does patrol.

All 3 positions (NCSD, SCSD, SCDS) are all civil service positions.

Doesn't Suffolk Police primarily stick to the towns that don't have their own PD's and the Suffolk Sheriff's Department stick to the side of the county that has PD's or something similiar? I thought I read something like that somewhere.

[phantasm]

Doesn't Suffolk Police primarily stick to the towns that don't have their own PD's and the Suffolk Sheriff's Department stick to the side of the county that has PD's or something similiar? I thought I read something like that somewhere.

SCPD cover the towns of babylon, huntington, smithtown, brookhaven, islip, that don't have their own PDs.

Here's a map.
http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/Police/precincts.htm


re: SCDS from wikipedia "a full-service patrol unit that primarily assists the East End town and village police forces although can be assigned anywhere in the county"

What you said is generally true. The east end have their own PDs, and SCPD covers the central and western ones that don't have them.

[normal1]

Look at Cali.. at least SD County.. they had SD Marshals that did warrants anr court security services until I think 2000 when they merged with SDSO. Seems to be like that pretty much everywhere out west.