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?
In: Other
Sheriff comes from shire, your British equivalent of our counties. Sheriff is a contraction of the old shire reeve, or the local shire’s magistrate. One duty of a shire reeve was to gather men at arms to keep the peace when necessary. In counties the sheriff now has fewer duties, mostly consisting of that duty to gather men at arms to keep the peace.
Police are hired by the city to keep peace in the city. There are jurisdictional limits. Generally police can only arrest in the city, or a bit outside of it, or they can continue to chase someone who committed a crime in the city into the county. A city being within a county, a sheriff can arrest someone within a city. However, in practice they leave responsibility for that to the police, generally only arresting in chance encounters or upon request for help from the police.
Latest Answers