What is the difference between a sheriff and police department? Do they govern different things and have completely separate powers? Does one have more jurisdiction over another and what happens when it comes to committing a criminal offence?
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There are a lot of wrong answers in this response, simply because the US, as much as Europeans pretend it is, is not a homogeneous place. Many people are giving you the difference in their little corner of the country. There are close to 18,000 different police organizations in the US.
For police organizations in the US, there is:
73 federal agencies
50 primary state law enforcement agencies
1,733 special jurisdiction agencies
3,063 sheriff’s offices
12,501 city, county, tribal, and regional police departments
Second, in many/most places in the United States, the Sheriff and a sheriff (a deputy of the sheriff’s department) are different.
Broad strokes here. Sheriff is a County wide elected position with varied responsibilities, one of which is typically leading the sheriff’s department. (Leading can mean a lot of different things here)
The definition of “police department” is also varied, and depending on how you define it, the sheriff’s department is a police department. But I suspect you mean city police vs the sheriff’s department based on your question.
The ELI5 explanation is, sheriff’s department is just one level on the ladder of the US police system….
The none ELI5 answer is, the US has a strong tradition of local rule. The police structure is one of these, and while you can simplify it to a hierarchy, it’s more a complex flow chart of jurisdictions and responsibilities which can vary greatly and have all sorts of overlap, not just between states but also counties within states.
Here is the overarching basics, starting with the lowest “tier,” but there can be and are differences.
1. Ultra local Police Deparments: some schools, hospitals, etc. have their own police force. Sometimes independent, but also sometimes a sub-department of the city/county/state police.
2. City Police: What you are thinking of when you say police department. These are the police employeed by the city and they provide police activity within the jurisdiction of the city itself. (Tribal police also fall somewhere around here) (City can also include villages, townships, etc.) Some county’s are not populated enough and will have a county police department in addition to the sheriff’s department.
3. Sheriff’s Department: County level police department, provide police activity for the county as a whole, typically will provide everyday police activity for areas of the county not incorporate within a city with an independent city police department. The Sheriff’s department may also run a county jail, run a county wide crime lab, provide security for county courts, may or may not include the coroner. They may also assume jurisdiction if a crime crosses city lines.
4. State Police: Often styled as highway patrol, troopers, state marshals/rangers, etc. State level police department. Provides everyday police activity for state property, including the high way system. They may also run the state jails, crime labs, provide security for state level courts and goverment buildings, etc. They also will/can assume jurisdiction in circumstances where the local/county police are out of their depth, or if the local police are themselves a party to the crime.
5. Federal Police: Numerous bodies here that investigation federal level crimes and crimes that cross state lines.
Also not included in this list but are ones you might commonly see are park police, military police, game wardens, postal police, border patrol, secret service, air marshals, .. each of these might be part of a previous listed level/department or completely independent.
Further we have the US Marshals, which actually aren’t part of the executive branch, but instead a form of law enforcement officers that report directly to the court.
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