The only problem: She wasn’t eligible to have that license plate at the time.
Deanna Hammond beat incumbent Bill Gipson in the Democratic primary race for Dallas County Constable Precinct 2 in March. She faces Republican Vince Griffin, a deputy constable in Precinct 2, which covers Garland, Mesquite, Rowlett and the eastern edge of Dallas, in Tuesday’s election.
In June, when she applied for specialty license plates identifying her as a Texas constable, she was working part-time in a Smith County constable’s office.
Constables are elected officials who oversee the delivery of legal documents like warrants, subpoenas, temporary restraining orders and eviction notices. They also serve as bailiffs in justice of the peace courts. They must be licensed law enforcement officers and can enforce traffic laws and hand out tickets.
Texas law allows elected constables to get license plates for their personal vehicles that identify them as constables. Deputy constables are not eligible, according to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
To get the plates, applicants need to fill out a form and attach a letter, written on official letterhead, from the county judge saying the applicant is, indeed, an elected Texas constable.
In a short phone call with KERA, Hammond said she applied for the plates while she was working in the constable’s office in Smith County. She said she’d gotten a letter from the constable to support her application.
“I did when I was a deputy constable, and I had my paperwork to apply for it. You can get it when you’re a deputy constable, but I’m no longer a deputy constable so I no longer have them,” she said.
Letters and the law
However, the application form for constable license plates states, in a section about eligibility: “You must submit a statement from the county judge on county letterhead stating that you are a Texas Constable.”
Hammond did not have that letter from the county judge. Pressed on that question, she stated that county constables could write a letter, and that the constable she worked for had written that letter.
The DMV told KERA that’s not correct.
Hammond told KERA, “I do not have constable license plates” because she got rid of them when she left the constable’s office before the call ended abruptly.
According to the DMV, Hammond did later get general issue license plates. She left the Smith County constable’s office in August.
In a follow up call, Hammond pointed to an analysis from a 2001 bill that failed to pass the Texas Legislature, which would have allowed deputy constables to also get the Texas Constable license plates. The bill never made it onto the House floor.
“It said effective 2001,” she said, before insisting that “I don’t do anything that’s not above board.” She threatened to sue if KERA reported on her.
Bills in the Texas Legislature must include a proposed date for when the legislation would go into effect if passed by lawmakers.
An error at the tax office
KERA began asking questions about the plates after receiving a tip that Hammond was improperly driving around with constable license plates while she campaigned.
Dallas County Tax Assessor-Collector John Ames, whose office handles license plates requests for the state DMV, said an inexperienced staffer approved Hammond’s request for the specialty plates even though she hadn’t supplied the necessary letter from the county judge.
“Did we issue the plates erroneously? We did,” Ames said. “And when we were made aware of it, we made steps to retract it.”
The state DMV reviewed the application after KERA requested records related to the plates and notified Ames’ office. By that point, Hammond had already procured general-issue license plates.
Law enforcement background
Hammond served as a police officer in Dallas from 2003 to 2007, according to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. After that, she left to work as a charter school guidance counselor and then for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, according to her website. In 2020, she worked briefly as a full-time deputy for a Tarrant County constable, and then worked part-time or reserve officer in constable offices in Tarrant and Smith Counties.
Her TCOLE file shows she’s certified as a Master Peace Officer and instructor in Texas and has completed over 100 hours of higher education.
Last fall, she began working as a reserve officer on a volunteer basis for then-Smith County Precinct 1 Constable Curtis Traylor-Harris, according to that office. She later became a paid part-time employee. She was discharged in August by an interim constable, Ralph Caraway Jr., shortly after he took office.
Caraway Jr. said he laid off everyone working for the constable’s office this summer. He kept Hammond on in a part-time capacity for a few weeks and then he let her go too.
“I gave her an honorable discharge. The only reason I let her and others go is because I wanted to come in with a clean slate of officers,” Caraway Jr. said. “She didn’t do anything wrong, it was just that the person who she was working for, the constable…who hired her, was incarcerated at the time I took over.”
Last fall, Curtis Traylor-Harris and two of his deputies were arrested on charges of official oppression, abuse of official capacity and theft by a public servant. They are accused of stealing valuables from a home where they were serving an eviction notice. The cases are still pending.
Caraway Jr. reiterated that he has no indication that Hammond acted improperly while working for the office. He did not have any specific knowledge of her Texas Constable license plates.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is KERA's One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher atcconnelly@kera.org.You can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.
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