Sheriffs in the United States
Chief of county law enforcement / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Sheriffs in the United States?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
In the United States, a sheriff is the chief of law enforcement of a county.[1] Sheriffs are usually either elected by the populace or appointed by an elected body.[2]
Sheriff's offices are typically tasked with: operating jails and prisons, security at courthouses and county buildings, protection of judges and juries, preventing breaches of the peace, and coordinating with city police departments.[3] Sheriff's offices may also be responsible for security in public areas and events.[4]
A sheriff's subordinate officers are referred to as deputies and they enforce the law in accordance with the sheriff's direction and orders.
Sheriff's offices
The law enforcement agency headed by a sheriff is most commonly referred to as the "Sheriff's Office", while some are instead called the "Sheriff's Department."[5] According to the National Sheriffs' Association, an American sheriff's advocacy group, there were 3,081 sheriff's offices as of 2015[update].[6] These range in size from very small (one- or two-person) forces in sparsely populated rural areas to large, full-service law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is the largest sheriff's office and the seventh largest law enforcement agency in the United States, with 16,400 members and 400 reserve deputies.
A regular officer of a sheriff's office is typically known as a deputy sheriff, sheriff's deputy or informally as a deputy. In a small sheriff's office, the deputies are supervised directly by the sheriff. Large sheriff's offices have several ranks in a similar manner to a police department. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has thousands of regular deputies, who are eight ranks below the sheriff. The actual second-in-command of the sheriff typically holds the title of chief deputy or undersheriff. In some counties, the undersheriff is the warden of the county jail.
Election
Of the 50 U.S. states, 48 have sheriffs. The two exceptions are Alaska, which does not have counties, and Connecticut, which replaced its county sheriff system with the state and judicial marshals in 2000.[7][note 1] Washington, D.C.,[note 2] and the five territories also do not have county governments.
Sheriffs are elected to four-year terms in 43 states, two-year terms in New Hampshire, three-year terms in New Jersey, and six-year terms in Massachusetts.[8] Sheriffs are appointed instead of elected in Hawaii, Rhode Island and a small number of counties elsewhere.
In many rural areas of the United States, particularly in the South and West, the sheriff has traditionally been viewed as one of a given county's most influential political office-holders.
Research shows that sheriffs have a substantial incumbency advantage in elections. An incumbent sheriff has a "45 percentage point boost in the probability of winning the next election – far exceeding the advantages of other local offices."[9] Relative to appointed police chiefs, sheriffs hold office for twice as long.[9]
The role of a sheriff's office varies considerably from state to state and even from county to county. Sheriffs and their deputies are sworn peace officers with the power to make arrests and serve before a magistrate or judge, serve warrants for arrest or order for arrest, and give a ticket/citation in order to keep the peace. Some states extend this authority to adjacent counties or to the entire state.[citation needed] In a small sheriff's office, the sheriff is likely to carry out law enforcement duties just like a regular deputy or police officer. In a medium-sized or large sheriff's office, this is rare.
Many sheriff's offices also perform other functions such as traffic control, animal enforcement, accident investigations, homicide investigation, narcotics investigation, transportation of prisoners, school resource officers, search and rescue, and courthouse security. Larger departments may perform other criminal investigations or engage in other specialized law enforcement activities.[citation needed] Some larger sheriff's departments may have aviation (including fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters), motorcycle units, K9 units, tactical units, mounted details, or water patrols at their disposal.
In some areas of the country, such as in California's San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Sierra, Tulare, Ventura, and other counties, the sheriff's office also has the responsibility of a coroner's office, and is charged with recovering deceased persons within their county and conducting autopsies. The official in charge of such sheriff's departments is typically titled sheriff-coroner or sheriff/coroner, and officers who perform this function for such departments are typically titled deputy sheriff-coroner or deputy coroner.
Many sheriff's departments enlist the aid of local neighborhoods, using a community policing strategy, in working to prevent crime. The National Neighborhood Watch Program, sponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association, allows civilians and law enforcement officers to cooperate in keeping communities safe.
Sheriff's offices may coexist with other county level law enforcement agencies such as county police or county park police.
Sheriffs in the United States generally fall into three broad categories:
- Restricted service – provide basic court related services such as keeping the county jail, transporting prisoners, providing courthouse security and other duties with regard to service of process and summonses that are issued by county and state courts. The sheriff also often conducts public auction sales of real property in foreclosure in many jurisdictions, and is often also empowered to conduct seizures of chattel property to satisfy a judgment. In other jurisdictions, these civil process duties are performed by other officers, such as a marshal or constable.
- Limited service – along with the above, perform some type of traditional law-enforcement function such as investigations and patrol. This may be limited to security police duties on county properties (and others by contract) to the performance of these duties in unincorporated areas of the county, and some incorporated areas by contract.
- Full service – The most common type, provide all traditional law-enforcement functions, including countywide patrol and investigations irrespective of municipal boundaries.
There are two federal equivalents of the sheriff; the first is the United States Marshals Service, an agency of the Department of Justice. There are 94 United States Marshals, one for each federal judicial district. The U.S. Marshal and Deputy Marshals are responsible for the transport of prisoners and security for the United States district courts, and also issue and enforce certain civil processes. The other is the Marshal of the United States Supreme Court who performs all court related duties for the Supreme Court of the United States.