Sheriff Lee Gets Constable Powers Because He is not an Insufferable Asshole

It turns out that former Sheriff Jeff Christopher lied repeatedly when he said he and his office were “relieved of arrest powers.” Why is this a lie? Well because the Sheriff’s office had the power to arrest before as part of their constable powers. But the Sheriff have to reapply for that power over a period of time to the State Board of Examiners of Constables. Jeff Christopher refused to reapply for constable powers for his office in January 2011, and then went on a tea party tirade. The new Sheriff Lee got back those constable powers simply by reapplying for them.

You get more bees with honey rather than vinegar.

From the News Journal:

[Christopher’s] elected successor, Robert T. Lee, made sure he and his deputies could have the power to detain suspected criminals – albeit in more limited circumstances than what Christopher had sought – the day he took office in January. No lawsuits needed. The detention powers Lee secured for himself, his chief deputy, and three deputies who travel around the county to knock on doors and serve court papers derive from their status as constables certified by the state Board of Examiners of Constables. The five-member board is made up of police leaders, a Department of Justice official, and a member of the American Society of Industrial Security, a trade organization of private security workers.[…]

You see, Delaware sheriffs have to apply to this board to be granted constable powers, since from 1897 on Delaware county sheriffs have not had arrest powers and instead act as ministerial officers serving subpoenas and other papers for the courts. The wanna-be Tyrant Christopher refused to reapply for those constable powers, preferring instead to demand full arrest powers in the courts and behave like a child. If Christopher had renewed the office’s constable powers with the board, then he and his deputies would have the power to “protect life and property, and preserve peace and good order” while on duty, and they could “exercise the same powers as peace officers and law enforcement officers, in order to protect life and property,” again only when on duty. But when they did exercise such powers, they had to inform a full service police agency, like the State Police. I suppose that was the deal-breaker for Christopher, since he saw himself as the highest law enforcement officer in the land in his delusional mind and thus he could not be subservient to anyone but God!

Their tactics highlight the different approaches Christopher and Lee have taken to what had been Sussex County’s most controversial elected office. Christopher described himself as a “constitutional sheriff,” aligned with thinkers who consider sheriffs the supreme law enforcement officers in their jurisdictions, capable of saying no to even the FBI. He attracted vocal supporters among conservatives, but clashed with the county and state political establishment, and judges uniformly ruled against him in lawsuits he filed to force the issue.

Lee, who defeated Christopher in a GOP primary and again when Christopher ran a write-in campaign, says he’s taken the office in a more practical, efficient direction. And he says he’s repaired relations with law enforcement and other government agencies that had frayed when Christopher was in office.

“This is just another tool, just like the car is, just like the pen is,” Lee said of the restricted arrest authority. “Just another tool of protection. It’s very, very limited. We’re not looking to be a county police force.”

Christopher wanted his office to be the county police force. Hell, he wanted to be the only law enforcement officer in the county, answerable to no one.

This story from the News Journal also reveals Christopher to be, at best, disingenuous in his legal arguments in court documents, because he argued that the lack of police powers endangered his deputies’ lives as they did their jobs. Well fuck you, Jeff Christopher, because the only person endangering their lives was you when you refused to reapply for constable powers. Seriously, Christopher deserves to be slapped across the face.

“My deputies and I have been relieved of all arrest powers,” Christopher told the American Free Press in March 2013, “and can’t even make a traffic stop.”

No, punch him directly in the face. The only person who relieved them of arrest powers was Sheriff Jeff Christopher. What a horrible evil liar.