Constable Update

It has been two months since my last update, however I have not written the first parking citation! In order to write a citation you must have someone "run the plate" for you so that you can know the registered owner's (RO in police talk) name, address, etc. I found this out in December and after calling several people, I found that our county dispatch could do this, however I needed to be approved by their "board" which was not scheduled to meet until March (they had meet 3 days before). In early February, I got a call from the Director of Dispatch. Some how I had gotten approved, but needed to sign a "User Agreement". It took another week to get the agreement signed, then of course it had to go to Frankfort (state capital) so I would be approved by them, and "put in" the computer system. Yesterday I got word that I as now able to run plates.

I had to go to the county court house today to renew the plates on my wife's auto. There were two cars without the proper credentials (hang tags or plates) parked in Handicapped spots. But it was much too cold today to write any citations, so they lucked out--for today.

Constable Training - Update

The training continues and I am close to being able to write citations. In my first post on training I said that I needed to get a Citation Book from "Frankfort". I first spoke to the administrative sergeant at the nearby post of the Kentucky State Police (KSP). That led to speaking to EIGHT people at KSP. I finally got a supply order form where I could order a case of 20 books! That would be 500 citations, which seemed overkill for someone doing only parking enforcement in a city of 8,000. I was finally able to get two citation books from the Constable Association. They came with an instruction sheet, a whole book of accident investigation forms, a book of forms for the Governor's Seat Belt Program and some other stuff that I am sure might be useful. I also picked up a pad of instructions on how to prepay a citation from the very helpful people at the Circuit Court Clerk's office.

To write a citation, you need a special number, called an ORI number. The one assigned to me was "inactive", so someone at KSP sent an email to the FBI to get it activated. I got confirmation on this within just a few days.

I had ordered a cap online with CONSTABLE printed on it. It arrived and I found out the Large/ Extra Large was too small for my big head. I returned it for credit and got one made at EmroiderMe. I picked up the new cap this past Monday.

On Wednesday, the Sergeant at the city police department was kind enough to give me a "citation writing" lesson. He covered what to put in each box on the form and what to do with the FIVE copies of the citation. In this lesson I found out that even for a parking citation I must put down the registered owner's (that's RO in police talk) name and address. In order to get this information I would need a contract with KSP so they can "run" plates for me. This lead to another call to the helpful administrative sergeant who told me that I needed to contact my county dispatch office and talk to the "Terminal Agency Coordinator" (or TAC officer, as I later found out.) Of course the TAC officer was not available, but I was told that if I had my ORI number, they could put me right in the system. I gave them the number, which did not show up as "active". So I faxed them my confirmation letter and I am waiting to hear back from them.

On Thursday I went to the Sheriff's office and had my picture taken for my ID. Everyone there was very helpful and got to meet the Sheriff. So now I can write citations, but only if the offender gives me his credentials and does not run away!

I'll write an update after I actually write my first citation. I'll also let you know the fees I can collect for these activities.

Constable In Training

I was sworn in as a constable on November 14, 2008. I have quickly found out that there is no "Constable's Manual". Sen. Dan Seum has filed a bill in the Kentucky State Senate

"to require the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, in cooperation with the Department of Criminal Justice Training and the Kentucky Constable Association, to develop a qualification program for constables and deputy constables and to require the basic forty (40) hour training course to be provided to constables and deputy constables at no cost." However with the current budget crisis I don't have much hope of this bill passing any time soon.

I thought that I would get to serve my first civil summons today. However, since I was also one of the complainants, I was advised that I should not serve it. So I paid $38.48 to have the Circuit Court's office serve it on four people via registered mail. The alternate would have been to have the sheriff serve it for $160.

While at the Circuit Court office I got a quick lesson in issuing citations for say, traffic violations or parking violations. Who knew that for many traffic violations, the fine is only $20 but the court costs are an additional $143? For improper parking there is no court costs. For handicapped parking violations there are also no court costs, but the fine is $250!

There is a uniform citation system in Kentucky but you have to get the forms from someplace in Frankfort and must file a copy of any citation written with the clerk's office.

And so it goes...