Sheriffs' Offices and Constables

There are about 3,000 sheriffs' offices throughout the United States, in all states except Alaska, Connecticut, and Hawaii. The overwhelming majority of these offices are countywide agencies almost always led by an elected sheriff. A few cities employ sheriffs to provide court security and manage the city jail; some of these are elected but some are appointed by the mayor or city manager. In a few jurisdictions, New York City being a prime example, sheriff's officers are strictly civil enforcement agents, generally carrying out evictions for nonpayment of rent, repossession of property (often motor vehicles) for nonpayment of loans, or for nonpayment of a large number of traffic violations.

The entry-level position in a sheriff's office is rarely called police officer. If you are hired by a sheriff's office, your title will most likely be deputy sheriff, commonly shortened simply to deputy. This can be confusing to applicants as well as to members of the public, who often interpret deputy to mean a position conveying high rank, such as a deputy director of a private company. In a police department, the title deputy chief conveys the same status as outside law enforcement, namely this person is most often the secondin-command of the department. In a sheriff's office, the person equivalent to the deputy chief is most often called the undersheriff. Generally, other ranks are similar to police departments; a first-level supervisor will most likely be called a sergeant, the next rank a lieutenant, and so on until the rank of undersheriff or chief is reached. The undersheriff (or chief) may be someone who has risen through the ranks of the office or may be an appointee selected by the sheriff.

The majority of sheriffs' offices are in suburban or rural counties. Like so much about law enforcement, many who live in large cities form their ideas about sheriffs from movies and television, where they have been portrayed as either bumbling local hicks or racist segregationists during the 1960s civil rights era. Neither could be further from the truth. Most sheriffs have risen through the ranks of their agencies and eventually choose to run for office. Others have had full careers in other areas of policing, and a few have come from non-law enforcement professions. One of the distinguishing factors of sheriffs is that since they are elected, they must convince voters of their abilities to run the office in a legal and fiscally responsible way.

The two largest sheriffs' offices are in highly-urbanized areas—Los Angeles County and Cook County (Chicago and the surrounding area). Other large agencies include Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, FL, and the surrounding area); Harris County (Houston, TX, and the surrounding area); Jacksonville, FL, and Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties in California. Each of these ranks in the 50 largest law enforcement agencies in the country.

Employment in sheriffs' offices increased about 11% between 2000 and 2004, but not all the increase was in sworn officers. Many sheriffs' offices have come to rely on a larger number of civilian employees; sworn positions, though, grew in that period by about 10,000 deputies. Although the vast majority of sheriffs' offices assigned their deputies to patrol and traffic enforcement functions, not all deputies participated in these activities. A total of about 35% of deputies were assigned solely to jail or court operations.

Because the sheriff is elected, the office is seen as much more his or hers than that of police chief. It is for this reason that it is common to see the phrase "sheriff's office" rather than "department," and for the use of the possessive to underline this more personal association. The personal style of the sheriff may be reflected in other ways, too. Particularly in rural areas where the sheriff is often well-known and may have come up through the ranks of the office, the agency may operate more informally than a police department. There may be less focus on physical training for officers and a more casual, community-oriented style of responding to situations may be encouraged. In this type of office, arrests are not a high priority, but providing service to the community is. Not all sheriffs' offices operate in this way; many adhere to the paramilitary style more common in police departments, but are still very likely to reflect the sheriff's personal preferences more than in other types of law enforcement agencies.

This is an important consideration for job applicants. While any one sheriff may not remain in office forever, in a state without term limits a popular sheriff may be reelected for multiple terms. If you are familiar with the sheriff's office in your area and do not find the sheriff or the law enforcement philosophy of the agency to your liking, it would be wise for you to consider alternative career choices. Sheriffs' offices are less likely than municipal or state police departments to be covered by civil service regulations or to be unionized. This may mean that if you find yourself at odds with the incumbent sheriff, you may also find yourself out of a job. It may also mean that if a new sheriff is elected, he or she may replace deputies or ranking officers at will, or for any reason, or for no reason other than seeking more loyal employees.

Thus, if you are considering a career in a sheriff's office, you have a number of important things to research and think about. The first is whether you will be comfortable working for the current sheriff. Do not take a position in a sheriff's office in the hope that the sheriff will not run again or will not be reelected. Your preferences may not match those of the voters of the county, who may be pleased with a sheriff who you consider too folksy, not sufficiently law enforcement oriented, or leaning too much in the opposite direction.

Another concern is whether your position will be protected if a new person is elected or appointed if the sheriff who hired you leaves for any reason. You should not rely merely on past practice for career assurance. Although a particular sheriff's office that lacks career protections may never have undergone a large staff turnover with the election of a new sheriff, that does not mean it could never happen. You might decide to consider employment in a department without civil service or union protections, but you want to know in advance if your career might depend solely on elective politics or on the decisions of the sheriff rather than on your own actions and decisions.

An equally important area to learn about is the scope of the office's responsibilities and your own responsibilities. Does the office you are interested in applying to have both jail and patrol functions? You should learn whether the same deputies do both or whether these are separate job titles. In some offices deputies generally begin their careers working in the jail and are then assigned to patrol. But in others, jail deputies and road deputies are separate job titles and you are hired for either one or the other.

If you are looking forward to riding around the streets and roads of the county enforcing the law and interacting regularly with members of the community, you must make sure the agency you join has patrol responsibilities and that the majority of deputies participate in this activity rather than being limited to court security, jail management, and civil enforcement. And if the jobs have different titles, you must make sure you are aware of which job you are being hired for. While a career in a sheriff's office that does no criminal enforcement can be rewarding, it may not be what you have in mind.

To find out about local job openings in the sheriff's department, call your county employment office. You can also read about departments across the country if you log onto the National Sheriffs Association website, www.sheriffs.org.

Check out the fastest-growing sheriff's departments in the country for job opportunities.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
www.la-sheriff.org
4700 Ramona Boulevard
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Phone: 323-526-5541
Full-time sworn personnel (OFC): 8,014

COOK COUNTY, IL
Cook County Sheriffs' Office
www.cookcountysheriff.org
118 North Clark, Room 1079
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: 800-458-1002
OFC: 5,309

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA
San Diego Sheriff's Office
www.co.san-diego.ca.us/cnty/cntydepts/safety/sheriff
9621 Ridgehaven Court, P.O. Box 429000
San Diego, CA 92142-9000
Phone: 858-974-2222
OFC: 1,700

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL
Pal Beach Sheriff's Office
www.pbso.org
3228 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
Phone: 561-688-3000
OFC: 1,620

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA
Riverside Sheriff's Department
www.co.riverside.ca.us/sheriff
7477 Mission Boulevard
Riverside, CA 92509
Phone: 888-564-6773
OFC: 1,357

BEXNAR COUNTY, TX
Bexnar County Sheriff Department
www.co.bexnar.tx.us/sheriff
200 N. Comal
San Antonio, TX 78207
Phone: 210-270-6010
OFC: 1,169

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CA
Sacramento County Sheriff Department
www.sacsheriff.com
1000 River Walk Way
Carmichael, CA 95608
Phone: 916-875-0085
OFC: 1,155

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CA
San Bernardino Sheriff Department
www.co.san-bernadino.ca.us/sheriff
655 East Third Street
San Bernadino, CA 92415
Phone: 909-387-0658
OFC: 1,149

BROWARD COUNTY, FL
Broward Sheriff's Office
www.sheriff.org
2601 West Broward Boulevard
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312
Phone: 954-831-8900
OFC: 1,029

NASSAU COUNTY, NY
Nassau County Police Department
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9063
1655 Dutch Broadway
Elmont, NY 11003
Phone: 516-573-6500
OFC: 1,004

ORANGE COUNTY, FL
Orange County Sheriff's Office, Human
Resources Department
www.magicnet.net/ocso
2450 W. 33rd Street
Orlando, FL 32839
Phone: 407-836-4070
OFC: 980

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
www.hcso.tampa.fl.us
P.O. Box 3371
Tampa, FL 33601
Phone: 813-247-8000
OFC: 937

ORLEANS PARISH, LA
Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office
www.opcso.org
2614 Tulane Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70119
Phone: 504-827-6777
OFC: 800

WAYNE COUNTY, MI
Wayne County Sheriff and Airport Police
Local 502
www.local502.com
20926 Schoolcraft
Detroit, MI 48223
Phone: 313-534-2307
OFC: 800

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY
Suffolk County Sheriff's Department
www.co.suffolk.ny.us/sheriff
100 Center Drive
Riverhead, NY 11901
Phone: 516-852-2200
OFC: 764

HAMILTON COUNTY, OH
Hamilton County Sheriff's Office
www.hcso.org
Justice Center
1000 Sycamore Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202-1340
Phone: 513-946-6400
OFC: 764

VENTURA COUNTY, CA
Ventura County Sheriff Department
www.vcsd.org
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, CA 93009
Phone: 805-654-2311
OFC: 706

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL
Office of the Sheriff, Personnel Department
www.co.pinellas.fl.us/sheriff/pcso.htm
10750 Ulmerton Road
Largo, FL 33778
Phone: 727-582-6208
OFC: 698

E. BATON ROUGE PARISH, LA
East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office
www.ebrso.org
P.O. Box 3277
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Phone: 225-389-5000
OFC: 625

Constables

The modern roles of constables differ by state and sometimes even within a state. Some continue to be elected. In some states constables are recognized as law enforcement officers; in others they are considered attached to the court system, and in others they are civil code enforcement officers. The largest number of constables is in Texas. In 2004 almost 2,500 full-time deputies worked for about 500 constables' offices; approximately 35% of the deputies were assigned to patrol. As with sheriffs' offices, candidates who are considering positions as constables should learn the role the office has within their state and should determine whether it is a career position or one to which deputies are appointed and may be removed at will.