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In the early history of the Republic of Texas the office of Constable was created by the Texas
Constitution and can be found in Article 5 Section 18. The Constables were the law enforcement
arms replacing the Spanish style military policing organization, thereby pre-dating even the
Texas Rangers some might say.
The Constable and Sheriff were lead by Stephen F. Austin with the authorization of Philip Hendrick Nering Bogel
known as, "Baron de Bastrop" in San Antonio. At that time, as they are today, the Constables were
elected by popular vote within their jurisdiction.
The current duties of the modern day Constable and his deputies are to preserve the peace within his
precinct and county. The Constable and his deputies are fully licensed Texas Peace Officers who have
at least the minimum 576 hours of classroom and tactical training required by the State of Texas to become
a peace officer. In addition to the minimum 576 hours required by the State of Texas, they are also
mandated to take a 20 hour course in Civil Process every 2 years, which is not presently required to
be taken by police officers. Constables have all the power and responsibility of any peace officer in
the state of Texas. They may write tickets, make arrests, conduct investigations, and file criminal charges.
However, they have additional enforcement responsibilities such as; serving and executing Civil Court orders
from the Justice of the Peace Courts, District Courts, County Courts, and out of County Court Orders.
In other words, although the job of the Constable and his deputies deal mainly with civil litigation
and are considered to be the Officer's of the Courts, they are highly trained and ready to deal with
any type of criminal activity within the precinct or throughout the county.