In the United States, a sheriff is generally (but not always) the highest law enforcement officer of a county and commander of militia in that county. A distinct part of law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. The political election of a person to serve as a police leader is an almost uniquely American tradition. (The Honorary Police of Jersey, a UK Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands, have been elected since at le...
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In the United States, a sheriff is generally (but not always) the highest law enforcement officer of a county and commander of militia in that county. A distinct part of law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. The political election of a person to serve as a police leader is an almost uniquely American tradition. (The Honorary Police of Jersey, a UK Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands, have been elected since at least the 16th century.)
There are about 3,500 county sheriff's offices/departments in the United States; they range from one- or two-member forces to the 16,400-member (plus 400 reserve deputies) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The average sheriff's department in the United States employs 24.5 sworn officers. The nation's sheriffs are represented by the National Sheriffs' Association, founded in 1940.
In many rural areas of the United States, particularly in the South, the sheriff has traditionally been viewed as one of a given county...
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