Steven Sokoloff, whose license application was opposed by county prosecutors, does not have the police background required by state law, Judge William Furber ruled.

Furber's ruling headed off what would have been a more involved hearing into whether Sokoloff's past actions as a deputy constable in Lower Merion made him unfit to be a private investigator.

Last fall, a judge ordered Sokoloff to stop working as a constable after Sokoloff arrested and handcuffed the sales manager of a Norristown car dealership over a $150 parking ticket.

According to court documents, police had deemed the warrant defective - it named only the dealership, not an individual - but the constable refused to back off.

Sokoloff resigned in December in exchange for prosecutors' not charging him with official oppression.

His subsequent application for a private investigator's license was contested by District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who has called Sokoloff "a bully." Her predecessor, Bruce L. Castor Jr., had already listed a three-year series of complaints about Sokoloff that Castor labeled "a pattern of improper conduct."

The complaints involved a series of allegedly heavy-handed arrest and warrant-service tactics. One man claimed that Sokoloff had kneed him in the crotch before arresting him.

In Sokoloff's defense, two state lawmakers - Rep. Daylin Leach and Sen. Constance H. Williams, both Montgomery County Democrats - endorsed his application.

Yesterday's hearing did not get into character issues, although witnesses were on hand to testify. Furber's ruling came after Assistant District Attorney Anthony Gil argued that Sokoloff did not have the experience required of a private investigator.

Sokoloff's attorney, Mark S. Pearlstein, argued that deputy sheriffs are qualified under the law to be private investigators, and that a constable's duties closely mirror those of a deputy.

Furber disagreed. "There are some similarities, no doubt," the judge said, "but there are vastly different requirements and authorities."

Sokoloff declined to comment after the hearing.