There’s never a dull moment in the life of a Tennessee constable.
Legislation passed in 2015 by State Rep. Timothy Hill that recognizes constables as law enforcement with the same procedural duties as police departments throughout the state.
Constables are elected to each district within the county and work without pay, while providing their own car and insurance as they go throughout the region to enforce laws.
To stay up to date on training protocols and procedures, the Carter County Constable Association is hosting their annual training exercise beginning May 1 at the Carter County Rescue Squad Center located in the Stoney Creek community.
“We appreciate their support for letting us come out and have the course,” said Ken Potter, District 7 Constable and certified instructor of the course.
Potter and county constables Mark Carrier and Harvey Shaffer provided the Elizabethton Star with a look at what the officers go through during their training Thursday and stated the importance of having the training available locally.
“It’s important for us to get our training in and do it here locally,” Carrier said. “Basically, the training is more constable-oriented than other agencies. Constables are kind of a jack of all trade. Warrants, civil process, criminal transport, warrant service and traffic enforcement also. It’s great to have this here and having it open to the public. It gives the community a chance to see what type of training we get and I personally feel like our training is second-to-none.”
Potter talked about his work with constables, which got underway in 1990 during his time with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office. By performing training in-house, the county was able to save thousands of dollars by not having to outsource the training and have the officers available to assist with county matters.
“In 1990, when I assumed the office of Chief Deputy for Carter County, there were 16 constables,” Potter said. “They were roaming the county and we took them under the county government and trained them to work beside us. The constables’ dedication and loyalty was a great asset for me as a county officer. They’d often make it to a crime scene before we got there. It’s not so much about training them about doing these different things, but more able to preserve the things that need to be preserved.”
Shaffer, who served as a constable for years, also added the ability of having constables in each district provides an asset to the police departments.
“You’ve got two constables in every district,” Shaffer said. “Like the Poga community, where it takes a deputy a while to go from the Sheriff’s Office to the area, you have a constable that lives in the area. He can be there in just a few minutes and sometimes it is a matter of life or death and you have an officer that’s trained on what to do. We’re spread throughout the county and we usually get to crime scene first.”
The training features mandatory eight hours of firearm training and 40 hours of in-service.
Different items that will be discussed and covered throughout the week endeavor include:
• Courtroom Evidence
• Drug Recognition
• Felony Traffic Stops
• Active Shooter
• Testifying In Court
• DUI – Field Sobriety
• Crime Scene Duties
• Evidence
• Autopsy
• First Officer On Scene
• Blood Splatters
• Homicide
• Stages of Death
• EVOC
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Mental Illness
• Taser
• Firearms
• Use Of Force
• Fourth Amendment
• Domestic Violence
• Civil Process
Potter added different instructors will assist during the training including Criminal Defense Attorney James Bowman, a local attorney to go through search and seizure, a retired drug agent and representative from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
“It’s specialized to officers in the surrounding the community,” Potter said. “Often some of the schools teach things you don’t use.”
Carrier and Shaffer both credited Potter for his work as an instructor and encouraged the public to stop by the training to see what goes into the training of a constable.
“I’d love for people to come by and just sit and see the training,” Carrier said. “They can also take the course. We often have people that think we don’t have the authority to do certain things. We want to show people we take this seriously for our county and these are protocols we are required to do by law. When election time comes up, we want the public to know we’re putting in the work to do the right thing for them.”
The class is $50 and can be paid May 1. Members of the constable association receive a discounted rate. For more information on the class, contact Potter either by email at kpotter64@yahoo.com or call (423) 341-1709 or (423) 543-6048.