GWB - just saw a NYC Sheriff... What's up with that?

I know this isnt exactly travel related, but I would imagine visitors would be curious about this as well...

I%26#39;ve seen them before, but never had anyone to ask... Just saw one at lunch

What differentiates a NYC Sheriff from NYPD? Do they carry six shooters instead of Glocks? He was in a car, not on a horse!

GWB - just saw a NYC Sheriff... What's up with that?

Ah, the Sheriff -- now, that is an interesting question. The New York City Sheriff is one of the older city offices, but it is not at all like the office of sheriff in most other places in the country.

In much of the US, the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer for a county, almost always running the country jail, and frequently being in charge of the provision of police services for the unincorporated parts of the county. We have such sheriffs in New York State -- the Rockland County Sheriff, for example, has a department with two kinds of deputies, some of whom are in corrections and some in patrol.

In New York City, however, the Sheriff does none of this. The jails in New York City fall under the Department of Correction, and the provision of police services is the responsibility of the NYPD.

So what does he do then? The Sheriff here is part of -- you will never guess -- the Department of Finance, and is considered an officer of the county court, which in NY is called ';Supreme Court'; (it is an anomaly of history that the Supreme Court in New York State is the court of lowest, and not highest, general jurisdiction!)

As the Dept of Finance website notes:

';The Sheriff is the chief civil law enforcement office for the City of New York. Deputies enforce court orders and judgments, including the service of process, property and income executions, evictions, and arrests. They assist in the collection of parking violation judgment debt by towing cars, and, if the owners of these cars do not pay the judgment debt and redeem their vehicles, by auctioning the towed cars.';

The duties of the Sheriff are very much like the duites of City Marshals, the main distinction being that marshals are not considered City employees -- they are sort of private contractors who work for fees, which makes them quite well off -- while the Sheriff and his deputies are City employees receiving a city paycheck.

The state of New York differentiates between ';police officers'; and ';peace officers';, with ';police officers'; having the more wide-ranging powers and authority. According to the Criminal Procedure Law, sherrifs and deputy sheriffs in counties outside New York City are police officers -- but those in New York City are only peace officers.

GWB - just saw a NYC Sheriff... What's up with that?

Very interesting. I%26#39;m in one of those counties that doesn%26#39;t have a police force--just a sheriff%26#39;s department. Before I moved here I never saw that before. Every so often the local board of supervisors makes noise about creating a police department but nothing ever happens.

Thank you!