Sheriffs: Who Needs ‘Em?
Yesterday my email box was flooded with questions about sheriff’s offices. Why the sudden interest? I haven’t a clue, but the questions were mostly related to sheriff’s offices in Alaska and how they operate. The answers to those questions are quite simple, because there are no sheriff’s offices in Alaska. In fact, two other states, Hawaii and Connecticut, also function without a sheriff at the helm of county law enforcement.
Alaska doesn’t have sheriff’s offices because the state doesn’t have county governments.
King Cove Alaska Police Department
Connecticut simply grew weary of its county sheriffs and changed the state constitution, eliminating the office entirely. In its place they established a state marshal system, which basically serves the same function, but without a sheriff at the top of the chain. Now, instead of having an elected official in charge (county government has no control over an elected official) the department is run by the State Marshal Commission. The commission also hires and fires all marshals.
What are the qualifications to be a Connecticut State Marshal? Here’s what the commission says:
Marshals must be an elector in the county where the vacancy exists, speak/write/read English, have resided in Connecticut at least one year, be 21 years old, have a high school diploma or its equivalent, be free of any mental or emotional disorder that may adversely affect performance, be of good moral character, hold a valid Connecticut drivers license, not be convicted of a felony, not be convicted of certain misdemeanors within five years prior to appointment, pass a written exam, complete required training, provide a $10,000 bond, and provide evidence of personal liability insurance.
How much does a state marshal earn? Well, according to one news report (HartfordInfo.com), John T. Fiorillo, a state marshal, earned more than ten times the salary of the state’s governor. In fact, Fiorillo raked in over two-million dollars serving foreclosure papers (for private firms) to people losing their homes during the economic downturn.
Wow, this system sounds much better than having a sheriff’s office…
And, then there’s Hawaii, another state without sheriffs, but they still employee deputy sheriffs who serve in the Sheriff’s Division of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.
Posted in Police Procedure
December 29th, 2009 8:26 am
Good morning, Lee.
I hope your vacation, although a short one, was pleasant.
I have a question. Does Connecticut have state police? If so, how do the duties of state marshal differ from those of the state police?
December 29th, 2009 11:18 am
I was thinking the same as Dave. It seems as if the state marshalls are basically the same as the state police.
December 29th, 2009 12:38 pm
Two-million ? Boy I would sooooo move to Connecticut if it wasn’t for that pesky mental problem.
December 29th, 2009 1:59 pm
Yeah, but Bob Marley’s “I Shot the State Marshal” probably wouldn’t have been as big a hit.
December 29th, 2009 4:11 pm
This Connecticut thing is about as clear as mud. As I understand it they have two sets of marshals. The first took the place of the sheriff’s duties, and the other serves civil process, which is also a sheriff’s duty everywhere else. Here’s what I found on Wikipedia, which is what I already knew…
The Connecticut Judicial Marshals are Court Officers in the state of Connecticut. The Judicial Marshals are sworn peace officers who perform various law enforcement duties.
The Connecticut Judicial Marshal System was created to replace the now defunct Connecticut County Sheriffs in 2000 and now performs all of the services that the county sheriffs departments carried out:
* Law enforcement
* Arrests
* Prisoner transport and processing
* Judicial security
* Bailiff
* Courthouse Security
* 24-hour prisoner lockup jails and cell blocks
The CT Judicial Marshals should not be confused with the CT State Marshals. The CT State Marshal Service serve various paperwork such as divorce papers or summons and civil arrest warrants Both are law enforcement officers. The Judicial Marshals and State Marshals are in no way related other than name.
AND…
The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by local police departments. The CSP currently has approximately 1,248 troopers, and is headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut. It is responsible for protecting the Governor of Connecticut and their family, also the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut’s and their family as well.
So…Who’s on first?
December 29th, 2009 8:28 pm
This is interesting because just this week, my son was asking me about Sheriffs and how they differed from other law enforcement.
December 30th, 2009 8:24 am
I’d like to add one thing for writers, Lee.
Titles and duties of law enforcement agencies can vary from state to state. When writing about an LE agency, call the police/sheriff/marshall/highway patrol/feds in the area where your story takes place and ask someone.
They would probably be more than happy to take 10 minutes to explain.
(Tell them you’d be happy to mention them in the aknowledgments)
December 30th, 2009 9:52 am
So true — I was reading a mystery set in Colorado, where I’ve set my WIP, and the author mentioned that all traffic accidents are handled by the state patrol. I did some quick research and ended up having to change a couple of scenes, replacing “deputy” with “trooper.”
Sometimes knowing what you don’t know is harder than dealing with things you know you don’t know. (How’s that for a sentence?) And note: I DID research it; the book was a heads-up. I’d never use fiction as research. Author in question had a couple of other procedural errors based on my research.