Dallas County's Now Light 28 Deputy Constables Who Just Wouldn't Do Their Jobs

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Jun. 8 2011 at 8:09 AM

Photos by Patrick Michels

First, an apology: Patrick's all out of good photos of Maurine Dickey, Clay Jenkins and John Wiley Price at that very first media what-for during which the unholy trinity acknowledged that mistakes had been made and that many Dallas County deputy constables had lied about serving papers to, among others, people in danger of being evicted. So before we leave this story, which appears to be winding down but by no means wrapped, here's one last look. Now then, down to business.

Last we looked, three dozen deputy constables were on paid vacation, per County Judge Clay Jenkins's request, following the results of that internal audit. As of today, according to county spokesperson Maria Arita, the number of constables who "remain in their positions pending further investigation" is down to eight. The county won't say anything about them "as they will have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis, given due process as the investigation concludes," per Arita.

(The county actually hasn't said much in public about the case since that May 13 press conference; most of its info has come via memos sent simultaneously to county employees and media members.)

The others deputies are no longer employed by the county: Sixteen were fired, she says, while nine others resigned and three retired. Says Arita, "The Commissioners Court continues to be vigilant. Commissioners Court now confirms that we have given all relevant documentation on implicated deputy constables to the Civil D.A.'s office for them to give to the Constables for their final decisions."

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DoubleOJoe

Can we please title the header image:

Triptych of the Martyrdom of Saint Dickey?

Jedis54

How do you fake an eviction?

Guest

You say you served the notices when the GPS in your car says you were nowhere near the place where you say you physically served the notice.

Jrhone5821

which constable distr. lost deput constables? how many from each district?

Robert Wilonsky

Well, seems our comments are screwed up again. Because I don't see Tim's comment about the headline being poorly worded. Which is why I changed it. Thanks for the heads-up, wherever you are, Tim's comment.

scottindallas

I wonder if Disqus Is up to the task. Yesterday around six I couldn't get comments to load. Without comments, I wouldn't troll here so much. Perhaps that lacks motivation for you to fix it, sort of a real dilemma, fix comments or feed the trolls.

TimCov

Correction on the article title. It should be "Dallas County's Now Light 28 Deputy Constables Who Just Wouldn't Do Their Jobs."

Clancey

Here's the real story:

Constables get Deputies and cars based on the number of 'civil papers' they serve. Until the 80's, only constables could serve court papers, eg., lawsuits, evictions, etc. Private process servers ripped them a new one, they worked nights and weekends.

Not justifying, but when your job is based on how many folks you can find at home who'll come to the door, you do stupid things.

james

even if individual cops aren't doing anything dishonest...the cars that get impounded are almost always taken from the poorest least able to pay to retrieve...then taken to a privately owned impound yard...who's grateful owner sold a few impounded cars to a few cops...this entire situation begs for corruption. who designed it? why?

James

The issue with towing cars for cash was a product of the creation of the constable traffic units first introduced to the commissioners back in 1994 by former Constable R.L. Skinner. The original commissioners approved the traffic program based on the amount of money that could be generated to pad the county budget. John Wiley Price was one of those who approved the trafffic program. Now that it has blown up in his face, he is using the deputies as the scapegoats. I have detailed information on this, and my facts are just that.

Clancey

You're right, the traffic patrol was a reaction to private process servers taking a very high percentage of the business. That was a money maker. Each City ran its own traffic courts, County discovered it could have Constable and Sheriff write tickets, tell drivers to pay their fine within 10 days, it wouldn't appear on their driving record. To quote Randy Newman, "It's money that matters."

Montemalone

3 retired? Does that mean they get to keep pensions and benefits?

yellowjacket

Oddly, I haven't missed them. Did notice several County cars parked at the sub-courthouse. Has there been an upsurge in anything? Lack of citations or undelivered notices more than usual?