Constable

[1][2][3] The title was imported to the monarchies of medieval Europe, and in many countries developed into a high military rank and great officer of state (e.g. the Constable of France, in French Connétable de France, who was the commander-in-chief of all royal armed forces (second to the king) until Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu abolished the charge in 1627).

An equivalent position is that of marshal, which derives from Old High German marah ('horse') and schalh ('servant'),[4] and originally meant "stable keeper",[5] which has a similar etymology.

One is appointed to the rank of leading senior constable on a qualification basis, but must have a minimum of seven years' service amongst other criteria in order to be eligible.

Leading senior constable is a specialist position of which there are limited allocated numbers within any section/unit or local area command.

In Canada, as in the United Kingdom, constable is the lowest rank in most law enforcement services, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The next highest rank (equivalent to a police sergeant in the English-speaking world) is ylikonstaapeli (yli- "leading"), literally "over-constable".

They perform duties such as maintaining internal security, border guarding, and counter-insurgency operations and riot control.

RPF personnel are responsible for protecting railway property, preventing accidents, and ensuring passenger safety.

Generally there are three types of constables in India, depending upon the unit, wing, branch or section they are attached to.

The Indian police constables do a wide range of duties like patrol, beat system, crime detection, escorting of prisoners and VIPs, guarding vital offices and installations, vehicle traffic control on roads, riot control, assisting civil administration during disasters, epidemics and elections.

[21] The police constables in Pakistan do a wide range of duties like patrol, crime detection, escort of prisoners and VIPs, vehicle traffic control on roads, riot control, assisting civil administration during disasters, epidemic, elections and other tasks.

A constable may be an official responsible for service of process, such as summonses and subpoenas for people to appear in court in criminal and/or civil matters; on the other hand, they can be fully empowered law enforcement officers.

The titles of sparapet and spaspet, derived from the ancient Iranian spahbod, were used to designate the supreme commander of the armed forces in the medieval kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia, respectively.

The position of constable originated from the Roman Empire; by the 5th century AD the Count of the Stable (Latin: comes stabuli) was responsible for the keeping of horses at the imperial court.

[2][25] The West European term "constable" itself was adopted, via the Normans, as konostaulos in the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, when it became a high military office of dignity.

[26] Late Roman administrative titles were used by Charlemagne in developing his empire; the position of Constable, along with the similar office of Marshal, spread throughout the emerging states of Western Europe during this period.

[1] In most medieval nations, the constable was the highest-ranking officer of the army, and was responsible for the overseeing of martial law.

[27] Village-level Chinese officials – known as tingzhang[n 1] during the Qin and Han dynasties, lizheng,[n 2] during the Sui and Tang, baozheng[n 3] during the Song, and dibao and shoubao during the Qing – are sometimes translated constable for their functions of reporting crimes and administering local justice, although they also served as tax agents and notaries.

His symbol of office was a longsword held by a hand issuing out of a cloud, a reference to the constable's duty of carrying the king's sword during a coronation ceremony.

[27] Some constables were prominent military commanders in the medieval period, such as Bertrand du Guesclin who served from 1370 to 1380.

The office of the constable was introduced in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066 and was responsible for the keeping and maintenance of the king's armaments and those of the villages as a measure of protecting individual settlements throughout the country.

[28] Some authorities place the origins of constables in England earlier, attributing the creation of the office to during the reign of King Alfred (871 A.D.).

However, the term was also used at the local level within the feudal system, describing an officer appointed to keep order.

[30] One of the first descriptions of one of the legal duties of a constable, that of the collation of evidence, comes from Bracton, a jurist writing between 1220 and 1250:[31] In whatever way they come and on whatever day, it is the duty of the constable to enroll everything in order, for he has record as to the things he sees; but he cannot judge, because there is no judgment at the Tower, since there the third element of a judicial proceeding is lacking, namely a judge and jurisdiction.

The role of the constable in Bracton's description was as the "eyes and ears" of the court, finding evidence and recording facts on which judges could make a ruling.

[33] In 1285, King Edward I of England passed the Statute of Winchester, with provisions which "constituted two constables in every hundred to prevent defaults in towns and [on] highways".