Decoding Local Government: Law Enforcement on the Ballot

By Jo-Ann Johnston

Maybe you are a law-abiding citizen, living in a community you like and expect to stay in for the long term. You don’t normally interact with local law enforcement offices and so don’t think often of candidates for county sheriff. That could be a mistake.

One of the highest concerns of any community or population group is the safety of people and property in their areas and places they visit or frequent for work. So the effectiveness and the conduct of law enforcement matters. 

To start, recognize that it’s not unusual for local communities to have as many as three public safety agencies — or more — in their environs on a regular basis. 

State police, sometimes called troopers or rangers, handle state highway safety and other concerns, but are funded by the state legislatures and generally staffed from police academies. The ultimate overseer of the state police force agency is generally the governor, and an appointed commissioner for daily management. There is no direct voting role for the public; if citizens of a state are dissatisfied with the state police force, that is a reflection on the governor.

In municipalities (cities, villages, towns) that maintain local law enforcement offices, police chiefs generally run the forces. The chiefs are hired and fired by mayors, the municipal council, or perhaps a municipal police commission. The elected official who has the most direct responsibility for local officers must answer to the voters when there are questions about behavior, arrest rates, or costs of running the force from local taxes. Ultimate responsibility rests with the municipality’s top official.

Sheriffs exist in almost all states in America, work at the county level of government, and run their departments. They number nearly 3,100 across the country. The sheriffs are generally directly elected by the voting public of their local counties to four-year terms. Once elected, it is common for a sheriff to be re-elected and the average length of time a sheriff holds the office has been 11 years.

A sheriff’s personnel (often called deputies) handle matters outside the bounds of cities, villages, or towns but within the wider county. That’s unless the smaller communities don’t have their own city, town, or village police officers, and rely on the county sheriff for patrols, protection, and arrests. The sheriffs also typically help when other or smaller agencies need assistance, or when cooperation among multiple agencies is warranted – a manhunt for a suspect would be an example.

What about federal ICE agents?

The sheriff in a county also generally runs the county jail*, marking another big responsibility. A county sheriff may agree to work with the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency in tasks such as identifying and detaining people whose legal presence ICE doubts. 

That said, the level of any local cooperation a sheriff provides can vary. Local officials who have seen ICE use tactics local elected officials and local law enforcement consider abusive and dangerous – especially since the shooting deaths of Minneapolis residents and citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – can have the opposite reaction. Resident officials in various cities and states have called on ICE to reform its recent tactics and even to leave the jurisdiction.

To read about one county’s decision-making process and public discussion on whether to work with ICE, read this February story from upstate New York by North Country Public Radio.

Also, in 2025, a unit of nonprofit news site CalMatters reported on which local law enforcement agencies, including sheriff’s, assisted ICE. Agencies in the states of Florida and Texas had the highest numbers of agencies, respectively, to work with ICE.

*There is an important difference between jails and prisons, so it is important for the voters to know which kind of facility they are financially supporting. A jail is owned by a county and is used to detain people waiting for a trial or sentencing; or people being held on a civil matter like failing to pay alimony; or people who have been sentenced to a term of less than one year of incarceration. Prisons are run either by states, the federal government, or by privately owned companies that are paid to house inmates who have been sentenced to more than one year.

Previous blog entry in this series: Public School District Boards

Coming up: District Attorneys and Judges | Coroners