Judges and court personnel will now be protected by armed constables in the Town of Cambria.
The local law creating the posts was passed at Cambria’s regular business meeting by a 3-2 vote last week, with council members Louise Brachmann and Ben Musall voting no after a public hearing.
Supervisor Jon MacSwan said after the meeting that some “concessions” would be made to appease those against the law at the board’s next meeting when a resolution restricting the constables’ duties to court security and town board meetings will be voted upon.
Opposition to the local law started in October when a decision to enact it was tabled to allow MacSwan to reach out to other townships in the area and ask what they did for courtroom security. According to MacSwan, every town uses constables.
Those against the law were residents who cited “a slippery slope” with constables potentially becoming a regular police force in Cambria.
MacSwan said that was not the intent of the law and he was going by the advice of Abraham Platt, town attorney, to make a local law allowing court security to be armed in the courtroom by making them “peace officers” or constables.
Otherwise, the second option would be to contract with law enforcement agencies, like the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, and pay to provide armed court security, he indicated.
“The only intention of this whole thing is for judge’s protection,” MacSwan 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.”
Still, residents argued that while MacSwan has no such intentions, future administrations could use the new constables for any of those reasons. They noted that by New York State Law, the constables being created would have the same qualifications and rights of a police officer to perform arrests and write tickets.
Eventually, Platt said that once the law was passed, restrictions on the constables duties could be drafted and voted on by the board.
“If … subsequent to the creation… the town board wants to make a resolution prescribing their duties, limiting them to this, that’s one thing because you’re not preemptively limiting. You’re taking action after it’s created,” he said.
Cambria’s next town board meeting is on Dec. 12.