Pennsylvania constables are independently elected public officers and peace officers who serve their communities through duties authorized by Pennsylvania law, court rules, common law, and court assignments. The office has existed in Pennsylvania since the Commonwealth’s earliest history and predates modern municipal police departments.

Constables exercise public authority, but the scope of that authority depends upon the particular duty, location, applicable statute, and court assignment. A constable’s office is not a full-service municipal police department and does not replace the jurisdictional police agency or emergency services.

Pennsylvania constables are peace officers and independently elected public officials. Their authority arises from statutes, court rules, common law, and specific assignments from the courts. The extent of that authority depends upon the duty being performed and the law governing the particular situation.

Subject to applicable legal, training, and certification requirements, constable functions may include:

• Serving civil and criminal process

• Executing arrest warrants and certain court orders

• Transporting prisoners and defendants

• Providing courtroom and election security

• Maintaining order while performing authorized duties

• Making certain warrantless arrests for felonies or breaches of the peace

• Directing traffic when lawfully acting in that capacity

• Performing other services authorized by statute or assigned by a court

Constables are not municipal police officers and do not possess every power granted to a police department. In particular, holding the office does not confer general authority to conduct routine traffic stops or enforce every provision of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code.

John L. Burns was a Gettysburg cobbler, veteran of the War of 1812, and former town constable who became one of the best-known civilian figures of the Civil War. Although advanced age prevented him from formally enlisting during the Civil War, he briefly supported the Union Army as a teamster before returning to Gettysburg.

When Confederate forces under General Jubal Early occupied Gettysburg in June 1863, Burns reportedly resisted their authority and was jailed until they departed. On July 1, as fighting approached the town, Burns, then approximately 69 years old, took up his musket and walked toward the battlefield to offer his assistance.

Burns eventually joined Union soldiers fighting near the McPherson Farm. After replacing his older musket with a soldier’s rifle, he fought alongside elements of the famed Iron Brigade during some of the first day’s heaviest combat. He was wounded in the arm, leg, and chest and was left behind when Union forces withdrew toward Gettysburg. To avoid being treated as an unlawful civilian combatant, Burns reportedly concealed his rifle and ammunition before Confederate soldiers found him. He survived his wounds and returned home.

News of Burns’s actions made him a national celebrity known as the “Old Hero of Gettysburg.” Photographs taken after the battle show him seated with his musket and crutches; one is preserved by the Library of Congress. When President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg for the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in November 1863, he specifically asked to meet Burns and accompanied him through town.

Burns died in 1872 and is buried in Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery. Pennsylvania later erected a monument to him near the ground where he fought on McPherson Ridge. His story illustrates the historic character of the constable as a locally rooted public officer, although his participation in the battle was the personal act of a citizen and veteran, not an exercise of ordinary constable authority. Read more from the American Battlefield Trust.