What are 3 advantages of being a sheriff and deputy sheriff?

Answer 1

A County "Sheriff" in most (all?) states is a State Constitutional Officer and an elective (as opposed to an appointive) position.

The Sheriff (and his deputies) have the power to enforce BOTH the criminal AND the civil statutes of the state, whereas 'police' departments may only enforce criminal law.

A Sheriff possess wide powers under the state constitution and is considered to be the the chief law enforcement officer of the entire county, regardless of whether the individual municipalities within the county have their own chiefs or not. His power exceeds and supersedes theirs when he wishes to exercise it.

A "Deputy Sheriff" is simply the title/rank of those who the Sheriff chooses to "deputize" and who carry out the duties of the Sheriff's office, which in today's world are many and varied (e.g.: operation of the jails - court and judicial security - service of court papers - uniformed patrol - etc - etc). Deputies also can exercise their authority anywhere in their entire county and may take law enforcement action regardless of what municipality they may be in.