What's the difference between sheriff and police?

[JEDI]

Some places the Sheriff is elected. yet that same city has police, a chief of police, and a police commisioner.

whats the diff between them all?

 

[Krk3561]

I dont know if this is it, but down here, there is the county sheriff dept and then certain cities have police depts.

 

Here in Michigan, sheriff's deupties patrol areas of the counties not patrolled by local agencies (townships, villages, some small cities, etc.). I believe, however that they DO have the ability to patrol and enforce laws ANYWHERE in the county. But, for practical reasons they generally stick to their respective areas.

The Michigan State Police patrol the entire state, but, like the sheriff's deputies, they generally stick to highways and townships where there are no sheriff's stations or local police forces. The state police also perform advanced law enforcement functions that local agencies don't have funding for: the MSP Crime Lab in Northville is a HUGE clearing house for all sorts of forensic evidence investigations. The MSP also has an elite bomb squad and a very good hostage rescue unit.

The police commissioner may be the administrative arm of the police (managing records, reports and the administration of the department), while the chief is basically the commander of police services (equipment, patrol, etc.).

 

[Ausm]

Where I live City police only have jurisdiction in there respective city, Our County sheriffs have jurisdiction all over the county but rarely patrol city streets, Our State police have jurisdiction through the whole state but concentrate on State Highways and Interstate Highways but may be called in to support county or city police.


Ausm

 

[MazerRackham]

Incorporated cities have their own police departments.

Sheriffs are county officers. Sheriffs patrol cities that are not incorporated, and tend the county as a whole.

 

[Ornery]

Seems like BS to me, that I have to pay for a local police department AND county sheriff, but townships who choose NOT to pay for local police, have full access to these same sheriffs. WTF? Maybe I should get the sheriff to come around here once in a while, just to get my money's worth out of 'em!

 

Originally posted by: Ornery
Seems like BS to me, that I have to pay for a local police department AND county sheriff, but townships who choose NOT to pay for local police, have full access to these same sheriffs. WTF? Maybe I should get the sheriff to come around here once in a while, just to get my money's worth out of 'em!

Around here, township governments pay a hefty amount in special contracts to get dedicated coverage from the Sheriff. There are always stories in the paper about how the police services contracts are very hard on townships that are sparsely populated. This is on top of the taxes that everyone in the county pays.

 

[Ornery]

Thanks for that info. I only hope it's true around here, too!

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: Ornery
Seems like BS to me, that I have to pay for a local police department AND county sheriff, but townships who choose NOT to pay for local police, have full access to these same sheriffs. WTF? Maybe I should get the sheriff to come around here once in a while, just to get my money's worth out of 'em!

Talk to the elected officials of your city and tell them that you don't feel the extra $$$ you are paying gets you faster response times or keeps your area safer. Then they can explain how you are wrong.

You are free to move to the townships without local patrols, y'know.

 

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: Ornery
Seems like BS to me, that I have to pay for a local police department AND county sheriff, but townships who choose NOT to pay for local police, have full access to these same sheriffs. WTF? Maybe I should get the sheriff to come around here once in a while, just to get my money's worth out of 'em!

Talk to the elected officials of your city and tell them that you don't feel the extra $$$ you are paying gets you faster response times or keeps your area safer. Then they can explain how you are wrong.

You are free to move to the townships without local patrols, y'know.

Good point. Response times in the townships are a lot slower. Thank goodness for my parents, their home (in a township) is exactly 1 mile from the sheriff's station, and it's a straight shot (no turns).

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Ornery
Thanks for that info. I only hope it's true around here, too!

jumpr may be correct about dedicated coverage from the Sheriff, but (at least around here) the Sheriff's department must respond to all calls that are not covered by township or city police. I'm not sure if the township or whatever has to reimburse the Sheriff, but I sincerely doubt it.

Our local village (just a township, really) has a "police department" - they bought a police car, labelled it "Bremen Police", and pay the Sheriff's office to staff it. lol Politics are pathetic... what's more is that the Sheriff's office was more inclined to patrol out our way *before* the township started paying them to do it

 

[Ornery]

Talk to the elected officials of your city and tell them that you don't feel the extra $$$ you are paying gets you faster response times or keeps your area safer.

I don't mind paying for MY police, but I do mind sharing the cost of the township's policing. If I'm footing the bill for a sheriff, I want him at MY disposal, too!

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: Ornery
Seems like BS to me, that I have to pay for a local police department AND county sheriff, but townships who choose NOT to pay for local police, have full access to these same sheriffs. WTF? Maybe I should get the sheriff to come around here once in a while, just to get my money's worth out of 'em!

Talk to the elected officials of your city and tell them that you don't feel the extra $$$ you are paying gets you faster response times or keeps your area safer. Then they can explain how you are wrong.

You are free to move to the townships without local patrols, y'know.

This post gets slightly off-topic, because it has to do with Fire/EMT, but at least around here, the same dispatcher's office serves all law enforcement agencies & fire/emt.

What gets really interesting is when you live in a township across the county border from the city your mailing address is in. For example: one of our houses is in Perry county, Jackson Township. Our mailing address is Bremen (Fairfield County, Rushcreek Township). Our property line on that farm doubles as the county line. If we call 911, we're connected to the Perry Co Dispatcher. The nearest Perry Sheriff's station, or fire/EMT station is about 15 miles away in Perry County. The nearest Fairfield Sheriff's station is about 4 miles away. The first time we had to call for an ambulance, we didn't realize which dispatcher was sending one out (oh, and it helps a lot that these are volunteer organizations...). About 45 minutes later, we got a call back, asking for directions - they couldn't find the house. 15 minutes later - a full hour after the call was placed - the ambulance arrived. Thank god that it wasn't as critical as someone having a heart attack...

Another time, after we learned the phrase "mutual assistance", my grandmother had to call the ambulance. She called 911, got Perry Co, gave them the address, and said that she needed mutual assistance from Fairfield-Rushcreek. The dispatcher didn't want to do that, but apparently alerted Fairfield-Rushcreek as well, because within 5 minutes, a Rushcreek TWP ambulance was sitting in front of the house....

</off-topic nonsense>

 

[chrisms]

I'd be happier if we had no police

 

[Ornery]

Originally posted by: chrisms
I'd be happier if we had no police

Yeah, that would rock... fvcktard.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: chrisms
I'd be happier if we had no police

Then you are one sick b!tch, you must love crimes committed against you. There's a new person everyday that completely amazes me.

 

[mugs]

In NJ the sheriffs' duties are much different from what people are describing here. The sheriffs here provide security for courts, transport prisoners from jail to court and serve warrants. They aren't like regular police officers, they don't patrol or write traffic tickets as far as I know. The state police patrol towns that do not have their own police departments. My township has a police department that patrols during the day, but we have state police coverage at night.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: chrisms
I'd be happier if we had no police

Oh my!