Who are sheriffs and what do they do?

Answer 1

Sheriffs are county law-enforcement officers. The top officer is the sheriff, with lower-level officers being known as deputy sheriffs or just "deputies".

What they do depends on how the county government is structured. In some rural counties, they are the only local law enforcement, so they are responsible for all the police duties, like investigating crimes, making arrests, maintaining the jail, etc. In other areas, they may have more of an administrative function, whereas the city or county police do the investigations and make arrests. Where I live, there's a combined city-county police force; the sheriff's department runs the jail, serves warrants, and handles some other administrative functions, but they aren't responsible for the major police functions like investigations & arrests.

One other difference is that sheriffs are usually elected, whereas police chiefs are more likely to be city or county employees who are hired by the local administration.

Answer 2

Sheriffs use have two roles, as the chief of police over unincorporated parts of the county and for cities that contract for law enforcement with the sheriff's department and chief warden of the county jails where prisoners who cannot make bail are held until trial and where persons convicted of misdemeanors and other crimes having a punishment of less than a year are held. In some rural counties, the sheriff is the only law enforcement department. In others, like Suffolk County Mass, the sheriff is only the jailer and has no law enforcement function. There is no sheriff for the 5 counties/boroughs of New York. New York City has a police department and a corrections department.

Answer 3

Normally a sheriff is the elected official responsible for a county's law enforcement. He or she hires and controls the county's crew of deputy sheriffs and usually answers to the county commissioners for budget, acquisition of equipment and some policy. He or she can be an active law enforcement officer or act primarily as an administrator. Most do both. In many cases they are the most powerful elected officials in the county. In some states, the only county official who can arrest a sheriff, if the need arises, is the county coroner.

Answer 4

The position of Sheriff is an elected position, they head up the sheriffs department . This includes the county jail. There area is usually county but that doesn't mean they don't have authority in the city. They have posse's and deputies that help enforce the law. They are a vital part of our legal system.

Answer 5

The sheriff is the primary law enforcement officer in the county, and is elected to office by the voters. If there are municipal agencies, they technically fall under the sheriff. He is reponsible for not only law enforcement, but he runs the jail and serves civil process papers. Different states may have more duties, but that is essentially it.

Answer 6

the sheriff is an elected official. he is considered as the chief law enforcement official in the county. the people who work under him are deputy sheriffs.they perform law enforcement jobs the same as any other law official. a city department head is called the chief of police.the city officers work the city they are hired by. the sheriff works the entire county.------retired texas deputy sheriff------

Answer 7

Sheriffs are the county police. They do all of the police duties in the county.

Answer 8

sheriffs deal with county issues. police deal with city issues. dps deal with highway issues.

Answer 9

The southern pronunciation is SHERF and they are usually over a particular county.

Answer 10

there like the head cop