LITTLE ROCK — As Pulaski County’s two constables seek re-election to their unpaid posts, one of them said he wants to keep patrolling the streets while seeking money from the county for a vehicle, ammunition and salary.
The other said he would continue honoring his pledge to do just the opposite.
“I think I’m doing what [other law enforcement officials] originally told me to do, and that’s absolutely nothing,” Big Rock Township Constable Mike Graves said.
Graves, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican Robin Doyle in the Nov. 6 election. The township includes the entire county south of the Arkansas River.
In Hill Township, which covers the county north of the river, Constable Rick Scott, a Republican, is hoping to fend off Democrat J.D. Holloman.
Graves and Doyle live in Little Rock, and Scott and Holloman both live near Maumelle.
Scott, who was first elected in 2010 after three previous, unsuccessful campaigns for the office, said he patrols almost every day in his neighborhood, driving an unmarked pickup, but has not yet made any arrests. He said he did buy some traffic-ticket books but hasn’t used one yet.
For the past two years, the Quorum Court has turned down Scott’s request for a budget. This year, his request included a salary of $40,000, along with more than $60,000 that he would have used to buy a vehicle, siren, radio and ammunition.
“I think the constable office needs to be recognized for what it is rather than what some of the politicians would like for it to be,” Scott said.
Holloman and Doyle said they would not ask the Quorum Court for a budget, although Doyle said he might raise private donations to buy a vehicle.
Holloman said he would not take on any law enforcement duties unless another agency, such as the sheriff’s office, asked for help.
Doyle said, “I don’t see me out on patrol right now.”
“Of course, my wife would kill me if she thought I was even considering that,” he said.
Arkansas Code 16-19-301 requires constables to “suppress all riots, affrays, fights, and unlawful assemblies” and to “keep the peace and cause offenders to be arrested and dealt with according to law.” Failure to carry out those and other duties is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $100.
Scott, a 76-year-old retired computer programmer, said he doesn’t make traffic stops, although he does carry a badge, handcuffs and gun.
He said he has completed the training required by a 2007 law for constables who carry guns while on patrol and has attended other training offered by the Arkansas Constable Association. He said he is not bound by the 2007 law’s requirements that he wear a uniform or drive a marked vehicle while patrolling because those requirements are not in the state constitution.
“The constitution doesn’t say anything about having any qualifications or anything for constables as far as what they need to do to do their job,” Scott said.
Before Scott, the previous Pulaski County constable to take an active law-enforcement role was Hill Township Constable Bill Lawson, who appointed 11 deputies and 15 “honorary” deputies and prided himself in making arrests.
Lawson was defeated in 1998 by fellow Democrat Greg Yielding, who argued that policing should be left up to other law enforcement agencies. The Legislature passed a law the next year prohibiting constables from appointing deputies.
Graves, a 67-year-old retired AT&T Yellow Pages sales representative who was first elected Big Rock constable in 2006, said constables might be useful in less populated counties, but “it just doesn’t work in Pulaski County, and if anybody tells you different, they’re crazy.”
Although he attended the Little Rock Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy, Graves said, the only time he took on a law enforcement role as constable was on Dec. 27, when he happened to be at Park Plaza Mall at the time of a shooting involving an off-duty Little Rock police officer. He said he helped security guards direct people away from the scene until more officers arrived.
Doyle, a 57-year-old regional manager for an armored-car company, said he envisions being a “figurehead” who could talk to schoolchildren about staying away from drugs and crime.
Holloman, a 39-year-old medical laboratory technician and Army veteran who ran unsuccessfully for the constable post in 2010, said he simply wants to be “a presence” in the community.
“We have capable officers and deputies that do a fine job,” Holloman said. “I have no intention of trying to take over their job or get in their way in any way.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 10/17/2012