A Republican Candidates Forum, organized by the Brown County Republican Party, took place Tuesday evening at Victory Life Church. The three-plus hour event featured introductory and closing comments, along with question-and-answer sessions, with candidates for Brown County Judge, County Commissioner in Precincts 2 and 3, and Justice of the Peace in Precincts 3 and 4.
The following are the excerpts from the questions answered by Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 candidates Brian Edwards and incumbent Bryan Thompson.
Brian Edwards
What are the duties of the Justice of the Peace?
Quite a few. Seeing cases, small cases, tickets, dealing with evictions and landlord issues, dealing with deaths and trying to determine if it was suspicious or not. That was a big transition for me. I worked in two ERs, it’s a difficult environment to be in to see life and death every day. But I believe God has helped me prepare for anything.
Do you think a background in law enforcement is needed for the job of Justice of the Peace?
I think any experience you have is always beneficial. What I’ve found in my career over time is every place I’ve worked has prepared me for the next place I was brought. My criminal justice background will help, and my mother told me I should have been a lawyer, when I was growing up. I didn’t choose that career, but I have that ability. Secondly, I learn very quickly and there’s 80 hours of training in this thing, so I believe I’ll pick it up very quickly using the experience and knowledge I’ve had in the past and use it with this career like I’ve done with others.
Do you believe being a JP is a full-time position? If not, do you have time to devote to the office?
I think it can be a full-time job depending on how things go ever week. One day at a time, especially now. Things are very difficult and challenging. And yes I would make time. If I’m going to do this and I get voted in and gain your trust, I’ll give it my full focus.
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Bryan Thompson
What are the duties of the Justice of the Peace?
The important thing to me is search warrants, arrest warrants. You’ve got to have the knowledge of knowing when you can sign that and when you shouldn’t. I have some that I have not signed. You talk about going into someone’s home, removing someone from their home, you need the knowledge to know what you’re doing, or you can get yourself and the county in trouble. We do death inquests, that’s very important to me. I want to get it right; I don’t want to send a body off that doesn’t need to be sent. We handle misdemeanors, we handle civil suits, we handle occupational driver’s licenses, DL suspensions, we handle magistration in jail, we do protective orders whenever they’re asked for after an arrest.
Do you think a background in law enforcement is needed for the job of Justice of the Peace?
I think being in law enforcement or being an attorney does help with the job. Throughout the state there are attorneys who are Justices of the Peace. There’s also a lot of ex-law enforcement that are Justice of the Peace. To me, if you know half of what you’re doing when you go into the office it makes it easier to learn. If you’ve been in law enforcement you know the laws, when you deal with the Class C misdemeanors you know about the search and seizure laws when you’re signing the warrants. It helps you transition into that. They don’t teach you near enough at the school as far as what you need to know … You only get 20 hours a year for training, so you need to know what you’re doing.
Do you believe being a JP is a full-time position? If not, do you have time to devote to the office?
I think it’s full-time position because you’re on call 24/7. Right now I’m down with my back but if I get a call to a death, I need to go. Of course, we do cover for each other if one of us is sick or out of town. We’re on salary, we do not get paid overtime. I’ve had about six or seven deaths since the first of the year that I’ve been out on. Those don’t usually happen in the daytime, they’re always in the middle of the night. None of the JPs have ever been at the courthouse for 40 hours a week because you go to the jail sometimes in the morning, spend an hour or two over there, sometimes twice a week. You might be out on death call for two or three hours at night, or you may be out for 30 minutes. But by the time you leave your house, go to call, get back, you can’t just go right back to sleep because you’ve just seen something traumatic.
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More information on each candidate can be found at Candidates | Brownwood News
To watch the forum in its entirety, click the following link: Candidates Forum Live Stream | (koxe.com)
Stories on the Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace candidates will be published later today.