Iowa Sheriff

What's the difference between the sheriff's office and police in a jurisdiction with both?

In jurisdictions with both a sheriff's department and a police department, what is the division of responsibilities or job description of the two agencies? Why are there two, instead of just one?

Public Comments

1. Police have jurisdiction only within the city limits, Sheriff deputys have the entire county
2. A sheriff is delagated to more mundane tasks like serving warrants and jail duty as well as escorting prisoners. It's a political position with sheriffs being elected.
3. The sherriffs office is more inclusive. It includes the jail, the courhouse, etc... The police specifically means those who have "arrest power". For example, a guard at a jail wears the same police uniform, but he can not go out on the streets and arrest someone that he sees get mugged. Additional details -------------------------------------- The 2nd guy is correct. Sherrifs has more mundane tasks like escorting criminals between jail + courthouse, etc... serving warrants.
4. A lot of it depends on what state you live in. In many states the Sheriff's Office runs the jails, are bailiffs for the courts and transport prisoners. The also deal with civil process service such as subpoenas, evictions and restraining orders. Some states also have Sheriff's Offices that actually have patrol functions and handle all of the police service for unincorporated areas of large counties.
5. Not sure exactly which way you are asking, In some counties there are sheriff office and there is county police, in those the sheriff office will be over the jail, the count and serving court papers. And the county police will do the actual traffic and patrol and investigation. Now if you mean like where there is a city in the county, the city police will do the police work within the city, and the sheriff office does the work outside thecity limits.
6. It kind of depends on the state. In Montana, for example, city police have jurisdiction within city limits and a 5 mile radius (the city council makes this determination, and can limit it to less than 5). The sheriff's department serves the unincorporated areas of the county and spends little time within city limits.
7. first off it depends upon what the state laws say. otherwice a police department is normally a city department. that means they work within a city.a sheriffis the entire county.now do not be fooled by these so called know it alls about jurisdiction. it differs from state to stae. it texas your are a licensed police officer any where in the state and you can make arrests any where in the state. the city officer on duty just works a city but off duty can affect an arrest any where is the state