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I know this question comes way out of left field, but what exactly does a sheriff do? The only time I EVER see a sheriff's car is on the highway, and they're always speeding worse than me.... But does anyone know what they really do?

In our area the Sheriff's department covers the County and patrols the areas where there is no other police coverage - generally the rural, unincorporated areas. I believe they have some jurisdiction throughout the county, but tend to focus their effort in areas outside of where individual cities have their own police force.

That's what I always thought... You know, you see the sheriffs in movies out in the middle of nowhere... Anyway, thanks!

UCrew is basically right. The Sheriff is responsible for all law enforcement in the unincorporated county areas and when a city doesn't have its own police force, it can contract with the Sheriff for police services. The Sheriff is also responsible for the courts and jails. Some cities have their own jails but usually those are only for temporary housing before being sent to the county jail. Sometimes the Sheriff can also be the Coroner for the county.

As far as jurisdication goes, I don't know about other states but I would assume that it is like California in that peace officer powers are granted for statewide enforcement which means in a legal sense, there is no jurisdicational limits on law enforcement. It would be more of a political thing.

They give you a parking ticket for "Parking on a Fire Lane" (as I picked up Chinese food from our local strip mall Chinese Take-out) EVEN THOUGH there is NO sign whatsoever, and the curb is NOT painted yellow!!!
:mad: :mad:

Not that I am ticked about it or anything... :rolleyes:

(Before you ask: No, I did not fight it. I am a contractor who is paid on an hourly basis. Taking a couple of hours off work to go to court with pics to prove to them there was no "Fire Lane" would have cost me more than the ticket itself. This just pisses me off even more, trust me!) :mad:

Where I live, the Sheriffs run the jails and the courts, and the police do the traffic stops and criminal investigations. But in rural parts of this state, the sheriff is the one who takes on those roles. Usually sheriffs are elected positions as well.

In NH, county government is fairly weak - most of the power resides at the city/town or state level. One thing the counties do is to run the court system. Sheriffs in NH do mostly court-related work - prisoner transport, security for the courts, some delivery of writs, etc. They also can backup the local or state police if needed. They also provide most of the LEO work at the airports -- you'll see they back up the federal screeners at Manchester Airport for example.

--pete

Ya, in MA the sherrifs drive around in their sherrif mobiles and deliver court papers to people, transport prisoners, etc.

Yeah I've seen them at MHT before... Most of the time when I see them it's on 93 and it looks like they're transporting people.

Yeah, probably from Concord prison to the courts in Manchester or Nashua.