Sheriffs in the United States

[2] Sheriff's offices are typically tasked with operating jails, security at courthouses and county buildings, protection of judges and juries, preventing breaches of the peace, and coordinating with city police departments.

[6] These range in size from very small (one- or two-person) forces in sparsely populated rural areas to large, full-service law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is the largest sheriff's office and the seventh largest law enforcement agency in the United States, with 16,400 members and 400 reserve deputies.

In Arizona, a sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer of one of the 15 counties of the state, with a varying number of deputies and assorted staff (usually dependent on population).

In addition, many sheriff's offices have agreements with the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) and local police agencies to provide for the transport and detention of prisoners.

Arizona is unique in that many sheriff's offices have formed semi-permanent posse units which can be operated as a reserve to the main deputized force under a variety of circumstances, as opposed to solely for fugitive retrieval as is historically associated with the term.

In Arkansas, sheriffs and their deputies are fully empowered peace officers with county-wide jurisdiction and thus, may legally exercise their authority in unincorporated and incorporated areas of a county.

County Sheriffs and their regular appointed deputies also take into custody unincarcerated persons immediately upon conviction of an imprisonable offense and convey them to the appropriate correctional facility to serve their terms.

Article IX, Section I of the constitution specifies that sheriffs "shall be elected by the qualified voters of their respective counties for a term of four years and shall have such qualifications, powers and duties as provided by general law."

In addition to law enforcement, sheriffs or their deputies execute and return all processes and orders of the courts; receive, transport, and maintain custody of incarcerated individuals for court; attend the place or places of holding elections; keep all courthouses, jails, public grounds, and other county property; maintain a register of all precious-metal dealers; enforce the collection of taxes that may be due to the state; as well as numerous other duties.

(Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies)[33] Under an agreement between Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and Marion County Sheriff Frank J. Anderson, the sheriff was responsible for overseeing the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department following the department's creation in January, 2007, until the agreement was rescinded by Peterson's successor as mayor, Greg Ballard effective on February 29, 2008.

[46] The duties of the office of the sheriff in Massachusetts are primarily to maintain custody of a county jail and house of correction, to serve civil process, and to transport inmates to and from courts and other facilities.

In addition, the sheriff operates a Marine Safety Program (with the Department of Natural Resources), provides contracted law enforcement services, and miscellaneous other duties.

The sheriff shall also pursue and apprehend all felons, execute all processes, writs, precepts, and orders issued or made by lawful authority and to the sheriff delivered, attend upon the terms of the district court, and perform all of the duties pertaining to the office, including investigating recreational vehicle accidents involving personal injury or death that occur outside the boundaries of a municipality, searching and dragging for drowned bodies, and searching and looking for lost persons.

Section 57.100 of the Missouri Revised Statutes states that "Every sheriff shall quell and suppress assaults and batteries, riots, routs, affrays and insurrections; shall apprehend and commit to jail all felons and traitors, and execute all process directed to him by legal authority, including writs of replevin, attachments and final process issued by circuit and associate circuit judges."

All 56 Montana counties have sheriff's offices responsible for general law-enforcement functions in areas other than those covered by local city police departments.

Essex County Sheriff's Bureau of Narcotics is featured in the film American Gangster which stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

This allows a sheriff who comes in office to, if he-she chooses, to replace an entire or partial department with untrained appointees and there is then one year to get the new deputies trained and certified.

Each sheriff is also statutorily required to provide line law enforcement, court security and service of papers, jail operations, extradition process, and transportation of prisoners.

As the chief peace officer of each of Oklahoma's 77 counties, the Sheriffs serve and execute all process, writs, precepts and orders issued or made by lawful authorities, namely the courts.

To ensure justice is administered, the sheriff is empowered to apprehend any person charged with a felony or breach of the peace and may attend any court within the county.

But, since the establishment of the Pennsylvania State Police in 1905, in practice most of the 67 counties' sheriff's offices perform traditional court-related functions, transporting prisoners to and from court, etc.

While sheriffs routinely provided court security, prisoner transport, civil process services and bench warrant arrests, it was unclear whether they had law-enforcement powers.

In his majority opinion, Justice Flaherty explored the historical roots of the office of sheriff in the United Kingdom and the United States and concluded that the powers developed as a matter of common law: Though it may be unnecessary to cite additional authority, Blackstone confirms the common-law power of the sheriff to make arrests without warrant for felonies and for breaches of the peace committed in his presence.

[82] The Division is responsible for "courtroom security and cellblocks in all state courthouses, training of personnel, extradition and civil service, and transportation of individuals charged with crimes.

Any sheriff having responsibility for managing a full-time jail shall receive an additional ten percent added to the base salary listed in this section.

In Davidson County, the sheriff has the primary responsibility of serving civil process and jail functions without the common law powers to keep the peace.

In Texas, sheriffs and their deputies are fully empowered peace officers with county-wide jurisdiction and thus, may legally exercise their authority in unincorporated and incorporated areas of a county.

At midnight on Monday, July 1, 2024 the two agencies were separated re-establishing the patrol and investigations divisions being formed as the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Additionally, sheriff's deputies aid the county police, the United States Marshals Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a joint fugitive task force that provides apprehension and arrest of felons who face current warrants.

Other important representations of fictional sheriffs have been Collie Entragian (Desperation and The Regulators), Alan Pangborn in The Dark Half and Needful Things, Edgler Vess in Dean Koontz's novel, Intensity, and Martin Brody of Amity island in the Jaws (novel) and film series.