The Carter County Constable Association knows how to keep local constables up-to-date with proper techniques and instructions.
Over the week, the Association has been hosting their annual training protocols and procedures inside 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 in their facility,” said Ken Potter, District 7 Constable and certified instructor for the course, during Wednesday’s portion of the class.
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 with the laws on the books, constables are required to go through training to know the law and have proper knowledge of how to react in a situation.
With Wednesday marking day three of
“This has all been classroom training, so far,” Potter said. “We’ve done several programs, and we’ll be doing more hands-on lessons later on in the week. We will not graduate until next Thursday night, so the guys will be staying pretty busy.”
Constables had the opportunity to sit through a presentation by Jerry Stout, with the state’s Department of Homeland Security to learn various issues and information about how to handle the topic locally.
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
“We will get all of these in before graduation,” Potter said with a laugh.
The ability of training constables in-house has been necessary, according to Potter, who added that the county was able to save thousands in the early 90s by performing their own training for officers. Other entities are assisting or have already assisted during the training, including Attorney Roger Norris, James Bowman, Tennessee Highway Patrol and other agencies.
Members of the public are invited to sit in during the meetings to see what constables have to learn by law. Each training session takes place roughly around 6 p.m. each day. Contact Potter at kpotter641@yahoo.com for more information.