§ 7158. Arrest in boroughs.
In addition to any other powers granted under law, a constable of a borough shall, without warrant and upon view, arrest and commit for hearing any person who:
(1) Is guilty of a breach of the peace, vagrancy, riotous or disorderly conduct or drunkenness.
(2) May be engaged in the commission of any unlawful act tending to imperil the personal security or endanger the property of the citizens.
(3) Violates any ordinance of the borough for which a fine or penalty is imposed.
Codification, not grant. The opening words, “in addition to any other powers granted under law,” say what this section is. The common-law arrest power for felonies and breaches of the peace, and the duty to keep the peace, came first; the Superior Court held in Taylor that constables “possess the common law powers to conduct warrantless arrests for felonies and breaches of the peace,” that those powers survive unless the legislature abrogates them (the Leet rule), and it spoke of the constables of the Commonwealth without distinction of municipality. Allen applied the same power to a breach of the peace at a vehicle. This section carries forward section 1 of the Act of June 4, 1897, P.L. 121, No. 101, which conferred the same enumeration on the “policemen and constables of the several boroughs of this Commonwealth, in addition to the powers already conferred upon them.” In both enactments the legislature described itself as adding to powers the officers already held, and it spoke to boroughs because the borough police provisions might otherwise have been read to displace the constable’s standing authority there. No township counterpart was needed: no township provision raised the same doubt, and a declaratory provision in the borough arrest law abrogates nothing. A township constable holds the same on-view arrest and peacekeeping authority at common law and enforces township ordinances on the township’s engagement through the tracks the Second Class Township Code prescribes. Paragraph (2), any unlawful act that imperils personal security or endangers property, states the imminent-danger power in statutory form.
Why this section matters for the database. Apprehension is the second verb in every criminal justice agency definition on the books, and this is the General Assembly confirming, in its own text, that the constable office performs it.
A constable making an on-view arrest under this section takes custody of a person whose record, warrants, and protection orders the constable cannot see. The person may be wanted for a violent felony two counties away. The State Police know; the constable does not. Nothing in this statute or in 18 Pa.C.S. § 9102 supports that arrangement.
Statutory text reproduced from the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (Title 44). The official source is the Pennsylvania General Assembly's online statute repository. This page is not legal advice; consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney for guidance on specific legal questions.
