Pima County's constables struggle amid 6 vacancies

Only four Pima County constables are actively working in their positions serving civil papers across the state’s second-largest county as part of an office highly on edge after an August shooting that killed Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay.

Of the county’s current constables, who are elected officials charged with serving legal summons such as eviction notices and protection orders from the justice courts, three are on medical leave, and one hasn’t shown up to work since the August shooting, according to the constables’ office. Presiding Constable Michael Stevenson is taking vacation time after announcing he will resign from his position effective Oct. 22.

Several constables have expressed a newfound apprehension in their jobs after Martinez-Garibay, apartment manager Angela Fox-Heath and a neighboring bystander Elijah Miranda were shot and killed after the constable attempted to serve an eviction on Gavin Lee Stansell, who turned the gun on himself after taking three other lives.

Constable Esther Gonzalez, a close friend of Martinez-Garibay’s who expressed dismay at a lack of safety afforded to constables after the shooting, has not shown up to work or submitted a resignation letter. She did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.

The Tucson Police Department is conducting an in-depth review of the shooting through its Sentinel Event Review Board, which will analyze the actions of Martinez-Garibay and responding officers took on Aug. 25 and identify possible process improvements.

Only Constables Bennett Bernal, Bill Lake and George Camacho are actively working in the county’s most populated justice precincts serving papers from the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court. Constable Jose Gonzalez continues to work out of the Ajo Justice Court, which produces far fewer papers than the eight precincts the consolidated court covers.

Bernal, who presides over Justice Precinct 6, said he leaves work every day “drained,” not only due to an increased workload from picking up inactive constables’ duties but from a renewed mental toll the job poses.

“It’s more mental now than physical. The way I survive is like every (eviction) I’m going to go in there with all intentions of making sure I come back out alive,” he said.

The combined number of papers served by the three constables working out of the consolidated courts has increased by more than 40% from August to September, according to data from the constables’ office. According to Lake, each constable is taking over about three precincts, covering two more regions than each was elected to preside over.

The county hired First Legal, a process server that serves civil papers constables aren’t statutorily required to deliver, to help relieve the strain left by vacancies. The three constables are still serving eviction orders and orders of protection, however, which can result in some of the most volatile interactions when removing people from their homes or serving domestic violence protection orders.

Lake said the shooting of a fellow constable “definitely changed the way we do business.” The constables are increasing interaction with TPD and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department while asking for backup on services that involve threats of firearms, he said.

Martinez-Garibay was killed after attempting to serve an eviction on Stansell for threatening a neighbor with a gun and who “has otherwise disturbed the peace,” according to court records.

“We went through and realized that it could have been any one of us. It’s not that (Martinez-Garibay) did anything wrong. If it was me, I probably would have been shot,” Lake said. “Overall, hindsight is 20/20. I read through my papers so I know exactly what I’m getting into.”

Constable Camacho, the third active constable in the county’s busiest justice precincts, served 179 papers in September compared to 74 in August, according to the constables’ office.

“I’ve worked in this office since 2002, and I’ve never seen anything like this at all. … It’s nonstop all day, mostly evictions,” he said. “It’s just a little overwhelming because you gotta be nice in this job because you’re handling people at the worst times. … But being compassionate takes time and multiple trips on a single eviction. And it’s really hard to do that right now.”

Six constable vacancies

The combination of an ever-increasing workload and high tensions after August’s shooting has contributed to resignations and even one constable taking medical leave after an altercation while serving an eviction.

Constable Stevenson in Justice Precinct 10 announced his resignation in an Oct. 10 letter to County Administrator Jan Lesher, where he stated he is leaving the position “due to personal reasons” and said “it is best for myself and my family that I move on to other opportunities.”

The county’s Board of Supervisors will initiate the process of appointing Stevenson’s replacement at its meeting on Tuesday. The board is required to select from a group of candidates who preside in the same precinct and belong to the same political party as Stevenson, who is a Republican.

The replacement of other constables won’t be so routine, however.

Constable John Dorer in Precinct 1 has been out on medical leave since Sept. 28 after he injured his back in an altercation with a tenant who another constable, Camacho, was attempting to serve an eviction notice.

According to Camacho, he was providing a few days’ notice to the tenant of his upcoming eviction when an altercation ensued between the tenant and a maintenance worker. Camacho had the apartment staff call 911 while Camacho called Dorer to inquire about “a constable number to call if we had a situation.” Hearing the distress in Camacho’s voice, Dorer decided to show up, Camacho said.

Camacho decided to proceed with the eviction immediately, “because if I left and this guy goes and does something to the staff, I would be the person liable,” he said. The constable said the tenant engaged his two teenage sons in an altercation with the constables. After one of the tenant’s sons “charged at” Dorer, according to Camacho, Dorer wrestled him to the ground.

Dorer confirmed the events of the eviction and said, “My mindset was probably such because of the (August) shooting that I was more heightened than I should have been.”

“When I got there, the guy took off back toward his apartment. And all I could see going through my mind at that point was he’s going to get a gun,” he said.

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Dorer said he plans to resign from the office after using up his medical leave.

Two other constables, Thomas Schenek and Oscar Vasquez, are also on medical leave. Schenek has been on leave since late July after having foot and knee surgery, while Vasquez is recovering from a car accident that occurred in late August.

Dorer, Schenek and Vasquez’s terms end in January 2025. The official re-appointment process the county’s supervisors must take upon a vacancy won’t begin until Dorer officially submits his resignation.

Constable Gonzalez, who abandoned the job without notice, is not running for re-election, and her term expires at the end of the year. However, her position in Justice Precinct 2 remains inactive until a new constable takes over in January.

Lesher said she has been working with the county’s attorneys on how to fill the position in the meantime and gauge the board’s authority to “cause a vacancy to be created if a constable just isn’t showing up.” Francisco Lopez, who runs TMZ Tucson, is the only nominee for constable in Precinct 2 and will take over the position in January.

The makeup of the constable’s office will change considerably after the general election. The county has redrawn the Justice Precinct maps to eliminate Justice Precinct 5, which encompasses the eastern portion of the county where Lake presides after being appointed to the position in October 2021.

The vacancy left by Martinez-Garibay further complicates matters. The constable won the primary election to continue serving in Justice Precinct 8 after she was initially appointed by the board to fill a vacant position in March. Her only opponent was current constable Lake, who put in his name as a write-in candidate and will now take the position by default.

Lesher said current considerations include appointing Lake to the position early, leaving the soon-to-be-defunct Justice Precinct 5 without a constable.

In Ajo, Constable Gonzalez is not seeking re-election and will be replaced by write-in candidate Eric Krznarich.

The combination of resignations and the upcoming general election means four new constables will take over nine redrawn Justice Precincts in 2023.

Key issues remain

The constables’ office has encountered increased scrutiny among a slew of alleged misconduct ranging from public urination to signature falsifications. A county-issued report from September last year found the constables take differing approaches to their jobs that result in disparate outcomes for those the constables serve.

Former Assistant County Administrator Mark Napier, the former sheriff who has since retired from his county administration position, wrote the report that called the constables a “fractured group” with varying workloads that result in the same $67,000 annual salary.

Former County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry suggested the constables take a pay cut, or in a more severe move, be replaced by county employees. As independently elected officials, it would require change at the state level to adapt the rules on who can become a constable.

County administration has continued to work with the constables on reforming the office, according to Lesher. Stevenson and Lake collaborated on producing a policies and procedures manual to guide constable conduct, but it remains in a yet-to-be-implemented, draft version.

The manual lists statutorily required conduct of the state’s constables, which includes mandates such as “avoiding impropriety” and maintaining the integrity of the office. But it also lists proposals to enhance training and congruency in the office, such as riding along with other constables to gain familiarity with the process “for approximately 30 days or until they are comfortable with working on their own.”

The guidelines also address an idea posed in the September 2021 report: Constables should consolidate all the papers that come from the justice court in order to even out the workload among them. The manual suggests constables continue to serve the papers coming out of the precincts they were elected in, but adds “constables can, and will, assist adjoining constable precincts” when other precincts have vacancies, other constables are on leave or “it is obvious that there is an overabundance of work that should be equitably distributed.”

Lake said the current three constables have “pretty much adopted” the guidelines, but that high turnover will likely make implementing the policies an easier task when new constables come on board.

However, as elected officials, constables are not required to follow any guidelines that are not outlined in state law. Lesher said the policies are only as strong as the “buy-in” from other constables.

“I think as soon as we get another constable or get some folks lined up, we can begin to start figuring out how do we get the constables the tools they need and help them empower the other constables to have everything they need to do the job?” she said.

But the killing of Martinez-Garibay has emphasized the inherent risk constables take on when they knock on a door not knowing what lies behind it.

Bernal said the job needs to be “redefined” and that constables shouldn’t continue approaching potentially dangerous situations on their own.

“We’re still doing the evictions, which is the most deadly of them, and nothing has changed,” he said. “We’re still doing them by ourselves, which is ridiculous. You can’t possibly go into these places nowadays and do this job and think that everything’s gonna be fine. Because it isn’t.”