How Well Do You Like Your Sheriff?

[Cofaler]

Our county sheriff's department has had some issues lately, mainly due to a couple high-handed deputies and a seriously botched murder investigation. One of the two deputies was fired for excessive force or something along those lines and later rehired by his buddy the sheriff, and then did it again, which resulted in a lawsuit, which they lost. After being fired a second time, he got into a road rage incident with a teen age boy. I tried repeatedly to get a ride-along with them, but they've never called me back after taking my info. We're relatively new here but the perception is that the democrat sheriff runs in lock-step with the largely democratic city and county government. I have a ride-along with the city PD tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[MaxMan]

Palm Beach County is 1.5 Million. The sheriff is unknowable for most people. However, he is being challenged and I really like the challenger!!!

 

[caryc]

Most places, including mine, are not like Mayberry. I have never met my sheriff and don't think I ever will.

 

[Cofaler]

I met the chief of our local PD when I requested a ride along, he made it a point to come meet me and thanked me for my interest. I had been to the sheriff's office several times trying to get a ride along, evidently he couldn't be bothered and they've never contacted me. Ride along went well today but uneventful. It left me with a very favorable impression of the PD. I wish I had that confidence in the county sheriff, as that is who would be responding to our place should the need ever arise.

 

[RoundinCircles]

I live in a large county in terms of population and size. I don't know the Sheriff from Adam. Judging from the few interactions I have had with the department, I found that the staff and the deputies are dedicated and very polite and respectful. I want to think this is due in part on how the Sheriff treats them and the organizational culture he has established.

 

[gnappi]

Broward county Florida has a pop of nearly 2 million and historically the Sheriff is unknown to most except for when there's a rare photo op on TV, and then generally in the months before an election

Now his deputies while always present are for the most part invisible to most here as I have a local PD. In both cases I have had zero interaction with the former and little with the latter. My overall impression of both is they're professional and do their jobs well and are not aggressive on traffic issues (no bogus PC or tail light bulb out stops) unless you're drunk, stoned, speeding, or being chased for some illegal activity.

 

[wproct]

I have lived in this county now for about 60 years and have not had any reason to have much interaction with our sheriffs. My only complaint was the way concealed carry permits were handled. Many of the Sheriffs were of the opinion that very few people had a need for concealed carry, except for some of their relation and friends. That all became solved when Iowa went from a "may issue" to a "shall issue" policy. If you pass a background check you shall get a permit. Then this policy was recently further updated that you didn't need a permit period. I still get my permit, because it allows you purchase without the call to the BATF, speeds up the process.

 

[caryc]

I have lived in this county now for about 60 years and have not had any reason to have much interaction with our sheriffs. My only complaint was the way concealed carry permits were handled. Many of the Sheriffs were of the opinion that very few people had a need for concealed carry, except for some of their relation and friends. That all became solved when Iowa went from a "may issue" to a "shall issue" policy. If you pass a background check you shall get a permit. Then this policy was recently further updated that you didn't need a permit period. I still get my permit, because it allows you purchase without the call to the BATF, speeds up the process.

There is only one county Sheriff. The people working under him are Sheriff's deputies.

 

[Mobuck]

How well do you like your Sheriff?
I know him well enough to NOT LIKE HIM. It seems the constant failures to enforce the law has ensured that most others don't LIKE him either.

 

[mexicanjoe911]

My old Sherif made sure we knew everyone in our rural area. If Miss Pinky needed her water heater lit, and she called, guess what? You walked over and lit her gas water heater. You helped little school kids cross the streets when needed and you wrote NO WARNINGS in the school zone.
6 deputies to cover 1,00 square miles and everyone knew we did not play around when we needed to get things done. Our Sheriff was very approachable and concerned about the people. He was called by his first name and could be found coaching little league during the summer.

 

[Armybrat]

I have lived in this county now for about 60 years and have not had any reason to have much interaction with our sheriffs. My only complaint was the way concealed carry permits were handled. Many of the Sheriffs were of the opinion that very few people had a need for concealed carry, except for some of their relation and friends. That all became solved when Iowa went from a "may issue" to a "shall issue" policy. If you pass a background check you shall get a permit. Then this policy was recently further updated that you didn't need a permit period. I still get my permit, because it allows you purchase without the call to the BATF, speeds up the process.

Same here.

 

[wproct]

There is only one county Sheriff. The people working under him are Sheriff's deputies.

I understand that, but there have been multiple people who have held the position of Sheriff in the last 60 years, ok?

 

[Gopher]

We will have a new sheriff for the first time in about 10 years. The new sheriff is a hometown boy, an ex-DPS Trooper, and a Texas Ranger. His biggest problem will be getting enough money from the county commissioners to keep the department and jail funded and staffed. It's been a "Good Old Boy" department for the last 60 years or so. I expect that to change with this new guy. We are a growing county and slowly changing from agriculture to industry and things are changing. Their number one call for service is loose cattle. In the past, the guilty farmers were not fined for this even after numerous calls. They weren't fined for political reasons. Don't piss off the voters. That.....is about to change for sure.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

Sheriffs have no juice here. Mostly process servers and crap like that. They ride in marked cars for security appearance but have limited power. Any real problem they have to call police.

 

[caryc]

Sheriffs have no juice here. Mostly process servers and crap like that. They ride in marked cars for security appearance but have limited power. Any real problem they have to call police.

Isn't there any county property that is not covered by local cops? Our Sheriff's deputies cover places that local cops don't cover. We're a pretty big county.

 

[Jeepnik]

I suppose it's a bit different in other locations. Here we have police that cover incorporated areas(cities). The sheriff covers all unincorporated parts of the county and contracts to smaller cities that can't really afford their own police force. Then we have the California Highway Patrol which is primarily concerned with state and interstate highways. By the way, you'll hear folks say that cops and deputies "can't" write tickets on freeways and vice versa. Not true. A sworn LEO can write a ticket anywhere in the state.

We also have the State Police. They primer provide police services to state facilities.

Larger cities sometimes have police forces that have responsibility for special districts inside the city. L.A. had school police, port police and airport police. Though the port and police were technically folded into LAPD a few years ago, they continue to try and remain somewhat independent.
The local school district is a special district that includes not just L.A. but other small cities and parts of unincorporated L. A. County so they aren't part of the LAPD.

More than once the state has pushed to fold all police, sheriff and special districts into a single state police agency. So far the voters have resisted.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

Isn't there any county property that is not covered by local cops? Our Sheriff's deputies cover places that local cops don't cover. We're a pretty big county.

They have uniformed "County Security" patrols. Basically barely trained unarmed private security guards. They observe and report only. No law enforcement power above any civilian. They may be associated with the sheriff's department in some way, but self supervised. They mostly do county parks and things of a similar nature, at least in my county.

 

[Muley Gil]

My sheriff is VERY pro 2nd Amendment. When the former Dem governor pushed through a number of gun control laws, the sheriff stated that he and his office were NOT going to enforce unconstitutional laws.

 

[BearBiologist]

I'm 77 years and have lived in Riverside county most of my life. I have never had the opportunity to talk to or come face to face with the Sheriff. Why would I?

My brother lives in San Berdoo County (Apple Valley). He has a CCW and says he is on good terms with the local deputies=knows them by first name.

 

[BearBiologist]

The day after Christmas one year, a guy got into a fight with his wife. I think he hit her (?) and took off in the car drunk. He hit almost a dozen (6-10?) parked cars and didn't stop. Now, our town has three main roads: one a two-way, one one-way South, and one one-way North. People took off chasing him. He went South on one one-way and back North on the other. This happened several times with him being followed by a string of cars! McDonald's sits between the two one-way streets and has entrances on both streets. The "posse" cornered him in the parking lot and got out of their cars. He started chasing them around the parking lot, trying to run them down! In the meantime, several people called 911 to report the fiasco. The dispatcher took the license number and said "Oh, that is Deputy So-n-So." The locals arrived took his keys and drove him home. He was never charged and allowed to resign. I understand he went to work in a neighboring county.

A friend of my wife's is married a local cop (was?) and he beat her a couple of times. She learned to call the "WaSPs" (Washington State Patrol) directly because the locals wouldn't do anything.

Then there is the infamous "Wenatchee Child Abuse Ring" (Referred to in "Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King):

Wenatchee child abuse prosecutions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not a lot of faith in local law enforcement! Due to the (fading) "Good Ole Boy network", many of us refer to them as "Barney Fifes".