Chapter 829: Characteristics of remote areas

In the United States, Sheriff is a relatively unique police system, which has to start with the country's administrative planning.

As everyone knows, the United States was originally just a colony rather than a country. The so-called thirteen states of North America when the country was first founded were thirteen colonies built or robbed by British colonists (mainly).

Each colony exists independently, so the so-called North American War of Independence is not a revolution or change of dynasty in the traditional Chinese concept.

If you have to make an analogy, it is somewhat similar to the Peace Alliance in the Spring and Autumn Period of China. The thirteen vassal states met together, and after agreeing on the distribution of power, they set a place where everyone could speak - Washington, D.C. (Washington DC) as the capital.

Then the thirteen vassal states formed a United Nations, called the Federation, so the governors of each state and the president are not actually in a superior-subordinate relationship. This is why the governors and the president are often seen arguing in the news.

As the colonists killed the original inhabitants of this land, that is, the Indians, like bison, and drove the remaining ones into reservations like protected animals, new vassal states were established one after another and joined the federation one after another.

This is why the original thirteen states of North America are called the foundation of the old United States.

Simply put, it is easy to understand that the 50 states of the old United States are regarded as 50 independent vassal states. This can be seen from the state flag of California, which still has the words "California Republic" written on it.

This is because California was originally part of Mexico. After the Mexican-American War in 1846, immigrants in California made an independent drama and established the California Republic.

This country existed for a total of 25 days. After the United States beat Mexico down, Mexico was forced to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and announced that it would give up this territory. Then California joined the United States as a republic and became the current California.

Back to the process of establishing each colony, we should know that a city is not built in one day, but developed little by little from small to large. It is a simple thing to grab land, but it is impossible to gather population and develop infrastructure in one go.

So before the emergence of cities, the most common thing in a new colony or a state was towns. These towns gathered together to form the second-level administrative units in each state-counties.

With the gradual development, some towns developed into cities due to various favorable conditions, while some remained the same or even gradually disappeared, but in any case, both are collectively referred to as municipalities, which are the third-level administrative units under counties.

This is where the Chinese, who have been accustomed to the concept of great unity from ancient times to the present, find it difficult to understand and confuse. If the states are regarded as provinces in China, then in this country, the scope of counties and cities is usually not consistent.

In most cases, a county is larger than a city. There may be multiple cities in a county, and in the United States, there is no administrative unit at the village level.

Let's take California as an example. The largest county in California and the largest county in the United States is Los Angeles County, which has a total of 88 cities or municipalities of varying sizes, including Los Angeles City.

In contrast, New York City, where Jack is now, is composed of five different counties due to its early development and other factors, namely New York County (Manhattan), Kings County (Brooklyn), Bronx County (Bronx), Richmond County (Staten Island) and Queens County (Queens).

Next, we will get to the point. Before the emergence of each state, when there were still settlements, no matter how big or small, someone was still needed to maintain order. At this time, the unique so-called elected policeman, Sheriff, appeared.

Because everyone is a colonist, they are all desperate people who robbed the land after killing the Indians, but the desperate people also want to live a peaceful life after retiring, so naturally there is a basic requirement for order.

In some places, people are too busy making money to bother with it, so they set up a council, and after electing the mayor or town head, they just leave it alone, and discuss how much money everyone should pay (tax) every year.

Every year, the city council or town council allocates funds to the mayor or town head, who appoints a police chief and recruits a few younger brothers (police officers) to maintain public order.

This kind of police chief appointed by the mayor or town head is a formal local police station, such as LAPD or NYPD, and the Maggrave Town Police Department where Jack once got into trouble.

In some places, people are not afraid of trouble, especially those poor and remote areas that are not well developed. Everyone has finally formed a county, but none of them has developed particularly well. Some friends have grown and become stronger and no longer care about their original poor friends, and have gone to play by themselves.

Then the counties in these places will collectively elect a strong man with a recognized high military power to be the Sheriff. The parliament at the same level will grant him the power to enforce the law, issue him a badge with a multi-pointed star, and hire him to maintain public order.

Of course, sometimes the Sheriff will be too busy, so he will find some strong guys to help, and give them a police badge, called Sheriff Deputies. Sometimes they are just temporary helpers, and the badges will be taken back after they are done (stingy).

But whether the Sheriff has helpers or not, there must be a place to work. At this time, the police station is not called a police station, but a sheriff's office.

After the states were incorporated into the federation, this kind of makeshift regional autonomy was still retained, forming the unique sheriff system in the United States today.

If you have to compare it with China, it is a bit similar to the village head in the Han Dynasty in China. Anyway, the imperial power (federal power) does not go to the countryside, so you can get a few village sages and village tyrants to manage yourself.

Since it is a makeshift team, the powers of the sheriffs in each state and even in each county vary. In addition to the general law and order maintenance duties such as arresting criminals, delivering court documents and executing court arrest warrants, issuing tickets, etc., they also include tasks such as protecting courts, judges and juries, and even guarding prisons and detention centers.

In some places, traffic, environmental protection, accident investigation, escorting prisoners, and even drug control and autopsy are also the work of sheriffs.

According to the size of the county, the size of the sheriff's office is also different. In small places, a sheriff with a few sheriff's assistants can handle everything, while large counties even have K9 (police dog team), mounted police and even police helicopters.

In short, in any area where there is no state police and local police department coverage, the local law enforcement agency is usually the sheriff's office, and the more remote the area, the more so.

To be honest, Jack is not very happy to deal with the sheriff's office, because usually the case thrown by the other party basically means complete blame, and there is no need to expect much cooperation.

It's not necessarily because of attitude, but because they are simply too busy.

For example, in St. Francis County where Forrest is located, there are less than 30,000 people in a land of nearly 2,000 square kilometers. The entire district attorney's office has only one prosecutor and three assistants, so it is easy to imagine how many people there are in the corresponding sheriff's office.

This also led to the fact that when Jack and his team rushed to the billiard bar at the scene of the crime, they didn't see even a sheriff's assistant except for a closed iron door.

Hannah made a long phone call, and a red-necked old man who was drunk and claimed to be the owner of the bar finally came late. After opening the fence door with a rusty key, the old man pointed to the corner of the bar and continued to sleep on the table.

Alice was dumbfounded because what appeared in front of her was an old videotape surveillance recorder produced in the 1990s.

"Should I prepare some popcorn?" Aubrey teased with a gloating look on his face.

The VCR rental business in the United States was still very popular even in the early 21st century. The whole family gathered together on the sofa to watch videotapes on weekends, which has always been one of the beautiful childhood memories of most Americans.

Of course, this industry has gradually died out and has been replaced by streaming services including Netflix.

Even so, the surveillance system using tape recorders is really an antique. It was not until Jubal and Jiejie sent a message saying that the prosecutor Skip Hardy's alibi had been confirmed that Alice managed to get this thing.

Aubrey really got a bucket of popcorn from somewhere, and Hannah seriously moved a few chairs, and everyone sat in front of the TV together.

"Let's start, I hope this antique, which is older than me, really captured something." Jack poured a few cups of Coke and put them on the table in front of everyone.

Alice glared at these annoying guys, found the one with the corresponding time from a pile of videotapes and put it into the player. After a burst of snow and streaks, the picture appeared. Including Clay, the FBI team cheered like children.