More than 2 million people live in unincorporated Harris County with no city police department to call their own, so they often call constables instead.
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The office of constable may have made sense back when Texas was a sprawling frontier. Instead, constables basically now run their own little personal fiefdoms.
Maybe it’s changed, but I also seem to recall meeting some constable or constable deputies who didn't even cary a firearm...probably that wasn't Houston though.
I mean, at least they are elected, if I wanted to fix a part of the system i’d want to start with the least accountable ones, police who don’t even live in the places they patrol, and who have a boss that is appointed instead of elected.