Cambria gets pushback on plan to arm court constables

Following a public outcry, Cambria officials are defending a plan to use armed constables for town court security.

Several residents argued at a recent town board meeting that it's a "slippery slope" from using constables as court security and working in emergency situations like natural disasters, as mentioned by Supervisor Jon MacSwan, to patrolling the town and writing tickets.

The town board was expected to vote on the local law at its Oct. 10 meeting until five speakers and about 15 people in the audience voiced their opposition. The matter was tabled by the board but MacSwan said this week that he intends to conduct a vote on the proposed law during the town's November meeting.

MacSwan said that he was surprised by the amount of people who showed up for the public hearing, adding he later learned the topic had been discussed on social media.

"The only intention of this whole thing is for judges' protection," he said. "We're not buying cars. We're not writing tickets. That's not the purpose of this. There's no other function for these constables unless there was an extreme emergency."

In a detailed post in the Facebook group Cambria NY Community Group, Tyler Booth, owner of the Warren Forsyth Tavern at Warren's Corners, noted New York State Criminal Procedure Law allows constables to issue court appearance tickets, make "warrant-less arrests" and "use physical force and deadly physical force in making an arrest."

MacSwan characterized the post as "stirring things up" against the town. Booth did not respond to messages left by a reporter.

Abraham Platt, town attorney, said the town has to have a local law on the books authorizing constables or peace officers in order for present court security personnel to be able to carry firearms. The scope of the constables' duties is up to the town board.

"You have a laundry list of their authority, but the role they're being put into is going to be limited by the town board," Platt explained. "They're not serving as a de-facto police force. They're serving as court security."

Still, with residents asking for some other way to provide court security, MacSwan said he'd also look into how other towns have handled the issue.