If you wish to file a complaint against a constable, please go to our "Rules and Forms" section and use the "Complaint & Statement of Facts" form. You can mail, e-mail, or fax the form to the CESTB office, or you may fill out our Online Complaint Form.
If you have multiple complaints concerning one or more constables, please fill out a separate form for each.
Once your complaint is received you will be sent a confirmation letter. The constable will be given 20 days to respond to your complaint. After the response is received the Board may request additional information from you, the constable, or another source. When all the necessary evidence has been compiled the complaint will be forwarded to an investigating committee consisting of Board members who are not from the same county as the constable in question. The committee will review the evidence and make a recommendation to the Board at its next regular meeting. You will receive a letter notifying you of the Board's decision and what actions were taken.
Should the cestb determine a constable has acted in an unethical manner, they can take the following disciplinary actions:
- Mediating, issuing warnings, reprimands or admonishments
- Instructing a constable to take a particular action or educational class
- Urging a constable to retire from office
- Placing a constable on probation for up to thirty days, except that after the initial thirty days of probation if the constable is making progress on probation but the constable's behavior is not yet compliant, the board may extend probation in additional thirty-day increments up to a total length of probation of one hundred eighty days
- Recommending to the board of supervisors that a constable who has previously been placed on probation be suspended from performing the constable's duties without pay for any specified length of time not to exceed the remainder of the constable's term
- When a constable has committed a criminal act, refer the investigation to the county attorney's office in the county in which the conduct at issue occurred