Edumatcation on Different Law Enforcement Agencies

[Midlife]

I've always been confused about the areas of responsibilities between police departments, sheriff departments, and highway patrol departments. I think the latter basically has responsibilities on freeways, but I've seen them patrolling inside city limits.

Do police departments only have jurisdiction within city limits?
Are sheriff departments have jurisdiction within county limits, and thus overlap police departments? I know that sheriffs also support the local judiciary in serving papers, etc.

How do these organizations handle overlapping jurisdiction?

Some of you are LEO's, so maybe you can edumacate me on this...Thanks.

 

[AzPete]

Each department has a working agreement with other areas.......or they don't. Each area is different based on their own agreements.

Also, look at the road they are working....it may be a state road in the city limits.

 

[guruatbol]

I worked in town from time to time when I was in Corrections. We could work anywhere there was a felon or parole. We just had to have a reason to be there and let the other agencies know we were there.

Mel

 

[SELLERSRODSHOP]

alot has to do with the different counties/states etc. for example, here in nashville, the davidson county sherrifs dept. only handles corrections, warrants etc. what gets really crazy here are the small "cities" inside nashville ( nashville city limits are the same as the county). jurisdictions get really screwed up where the small depts have to interact with metro nashville pd.

 

[Havok1]

Well Mid, it can get complicated, but here is a very basic idea of how it works here. I work for the city. Therefore my jurisdiction is limited to the city limits and a 1 mile buffer outside that. We do everything inside the city minus the jail system and civil paperwork. The Sheriffs deputies have county-wide jurisdiction. This means they can perform their job ANYWHERE inside the county even if that falls inside a city limit. Now our S.O. doesn't typically take wrecks and such, but they take care of everything else where a city department is not covering. They also serve civil paperwork and handle the jail system. The Highway Patrol has state-wide jurisdiction. They can perform their job ANYWHERE in the State. They mostly handle traffic type stuff. They don't respond to domestics and assaults and such. Now if a wreck happens in the city, we take it, not HP. They would if we were slammed or if they were covering for us during police officer's funeral or something. They do patrol in the city for traffic offenses and such. I say it can get complicated because often times in larger cities you have more than just those three agencies present, each with thier own jurisdiction. Take Raleigh for example. Here are a list of the agencies I can think of off the top of my head that operate inside the city limits:

Raleigh Police Dept
Wake County Sheriffs Office
NC Highway Patrol
State Capital Police (Cover the Legislative Building and State owned properties)
NC State University Police (Cover the NC State campus)
Shaw University Police (Cover the Shaw campus)
Crabtree Valley Mall Special Police (Cover the Crabtree Valley Mall - yes they have their own police dept)
Wake Medical Police Dept. (Cover the Hospital)

I know there are more, I just can't think of them right this minute. It can become a nightmare when something happens on one of the smaller jurisdictions (like a campus) and they don't have the resources and we have to help. Also don't forget the ATF and FBI which have large offices here in the Federal Courthouse. Hope this makes everything clear as mud for you. :lol

 

[blue65coupe]

Raleigh PD...oh my. I had a "meeting" with NCSU PS, RPD, SBI, Fire Marshall, and somebody from the bomb squad all in one night back when I was at NCSU. I contribute my not going to jail only to their communication skills amongst themselves.

 

[Flysure1]

Hey Randy, the bottom line is that sex with animals is against the law wherever you performed the act!

 

[Midlife]

Hey Randy, the bottom line is that sex with animals is against the law wherever you performed the act!

Not if they are having sex with me, it ain't! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Havok1]

Raleigh PD...oh my. I had a "meeting" with NCSU PS, RPD, SBI, Fire Marshall, and somebody from the bomb squad all in one night back when I was at NCSU. I contribute my not going to jail only to their communication skills amongst themselves.

From the pyrotechnic demonstrations that you give at MBB, why does this story not surprise me? And have worked with all the agencies mentioned above, the end result doesn't surprise me either. :lol

 

[sgtjunior]

Similar to what was posted above. I work in the City of Chicago. We have authority in the city itself and any contiguous municipality. We don't respond to assignments out of the city but we can go there if needed. On our expressways the IL State Police have a legal agreement that they signed in 1990 or so that they have responsibility for investigations. They have authority through the state, but in the city they work with us. The Cook County Sheriff run the jail system and work with our task forces on parole and probation violations. You try to get along with everyone, but being the big dog people normally work well with us and visa versa. Thanks to the Patriot act we can carry anywhere in the US. From Chicago we used to have issues with carrying in Wisc. Occasionally Police would get arrested for UUW :amaz

 

[jims6t6]

In Knoxville there are some agreements on which department handle what, but when it comes to traffic control inside the city limits all three can and do ticket you. Out side the city limits only the sheriff and THP can ticket you. If you do not believe me speed up I75 between exits 110 and 112.