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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

"Such a system provides even small-town sheriffs access"

Huh? Sheriffs are top law enforcement for a county, not a particular city. There's only one per county, everyone else is a deputy. This seems strange for someone like the ACLU to not know this

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Yeah, in Washington state law, sheriffs are called out "the chief executive officer and conservator of the peace of the county."

Additionally, they're the only law enforcement officer directly accountable to the people, since they're elected. This isn't true of literally any other law enforcement at any level (local to fed).

> Additionally, they're the only law enforcement officer directly accountable to the people, since they're elected.

Usually this is probably a good thing, but sometimes their need to be popular with locals means the position gets filled by loud mouthed showboaters who even get themselves into national news with their not always harmless antics. Most of the most famous/notorious police in America have been sheriffs for this reason. Joe Arpaio, Mike Chitwood, etc.

This is the primary critique of democracy, not just American sheriffs.

While true, they're still accountable to their electorate. Their electorate just happens to love loudmouthed bullies.

In Washington specifically we have Loren Culp, who breaks that trend - he was a Police Chief of Republic, WA rather than a sheriff.

Did they break the trend, or expand the trent? Your post seems to imply the latter -- he was police chief rather than sheriff, but still a loud mouthed showboater? If it was about breaking the trend, I'd assume the example would be a sheriff with actual substance.

Here in Fairfax County, VA, we have a sheriff, who is elected, but they only run the courthouse and prison. We also have an unelected (appointed by the county board of supervisors, who are elected) police department that handles regular law enforcement.

Very interesting. In King County WA they have an elected "County Executive" who then appoints the King County Sheriff. That Sheriff does have normal law enforcement and court duties.

I believe that is an aberration in WA state though.

Neighboring Loudoun County has a sheriff handle all law enforcement duties.

And the other neighboring county, Prince William, has a distinct sheriff, police department, and the detention center runs itself (not the sheriff). So the sheriff only does court room security and tracking of fugitives.

A sheriff would typically have an office in the county seat, and that county seat could be a small town. This is what the sentence is referring to.

It's an American English idiom -- "small town" as a synonym for remote rural areas. Not incredibly common but not unusual. It shows up as a tag in TMDB (movie database) and Goodreads, and I believe there's at least one romance novel using the term.

nobody's questioning what a small town is. sheriffs patrol the whole county, not just a small town. there are plenty of small towns that do not have a local police department and depend on the sheriff's office; I grew up in one. maybe my sheriff was just a dick about it, but he was quick to distance from the small town label in conversation.

Yes. When I say tag, I mean specifically "small town sheriff" as a tag. Saying "small town sheriff" is technically inaccurate but understandable in context.

More of turn of phrase than a statement of belief on where sheriffs work I’d say. Calling in a vague wild west vibe.

That's exactly it. The ACLU would be well-advised to police their use of that kind of language (pun intended), because it comes off as the kind of thing a member of the coastal elite who unironically uses the phrase "flyover state" would say.

> Huh? Sheriffs are top law enforcement for a county, not a particular city. There's only one per county, everyone else is a deputy. This seems strange for someone like the ACLU to not know this

A “small-town sheriff” is a common idiom describing the sheriff of a county whose seat is a small town, rather than big city. It is a common phrase in American English.

This seems strange that someone commenting on HN that has enough concern for American society to have an opinion about what the ACLU should not know this.

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