NCIS: The Good Samaritan

[kerravonsen]

One question, for folks in the US: Sherrifs get elected to their positions? Not appointed? That seems really strange. Then again, the whole durisdiction thing strikes me as a bit dumb, since all it ever seems to do is make things more difficult. But then, I live in Victoria, which has one police force for the entire state. And the police chief sure don't get elected.
Anyways...

I suspected that the two women were in cahoots when they both turned up with motives and ironclad alibis. One of those "you murder my enemy, and I'll murder yours" things.

Comments

[cheyinka]

To make matters worse, I think it might be different for different parts of the US!

In Montana, the county sheriff is indeed an elected position; for example in Yellowstone County it is a 4-year term. I don't think any of the cities (heh) big enough for a chief of police elect that person; in Billings it is not an elected position. I am relatively certain whoever's in charge of the Highway Patrol is not an elected position either. (Some states have "State Troopers", Montana and at least a few neighboring states have "Highway Patrol officers" or "Patrol officers") I don't know if the Highway Patrol can overrule a county sheriff or not. I wouldn't be surprised if they could.

Despite living in Texas and having voted in a general election I don't remember whether or not county sheriffs are elected. Oops.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Yep, sheriffs get elected here in the US. Everyone gets elected here! (Well, almost. *g*) Partly it's a function of how big the US is--we usually have State Police (sometimes synonymous with the Highway Patrol), but every city/town has their own little force, and some counties will have their own as well. And there's the FBI.

Yeah, it's kind of complicated.

[drednort.livejournal.com]

Sherrifs are elected in some parts of the US, along with a lot of other public office holders. But it depends on where they are.

And there are issues of jurisdiction here in Australia as well - because, as you say, we have state wide police forces, we don't notice it that much here, but if you live on or near the state borders, there are definite issues. There are also issues of jurisdiction between the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the enforcement section of the Australian Tax Office, state police forces, sherrifs - we don't have quite the same plethora of agencies that the US has, but we've got more than a lot of people realise. Not to mention the whole range of AOs with arrest and investigation powers in limited areas, working for a wide range of other agencies.