United States Police Forces

[kiwitt]

From Here

Which goes to show why the American ELECT ALL THE JOBS mentality is mind-numbingly awful.

Why does the USA, elect sheriffs, who each have their own set of differing values, policies and standards, and look what problems those bring recently. Most other countries have a national police force where they all adhere the same values, policies and standards, regardless of where they are in the country.

 

[Rashiminos]

Most other countries have a national police force where they all adhere the same values, policies and standards, regardless of where they are in the country.

In theory...

Why does the USA, elect sheriffs,

I'm pretty sure the process for selecting sheriffs and similar law enforcement positions is left up to each individual state.

 

[Farm Boy]

So that rinky dinky counties can have a police force at least a little tailored to their needs and wants instead of dealing with a dense, corrupt, and unaccountable Federal government pounding the pavement for mundane stops in a country of 300+ million souls? My life is already run, in varying degrees, by both seaboards, Chicago, and ChicagoLite(Springfield). I don't need my most immediate minders, the fellas with the beating sticks routinely watching my behavior during my morning commute, run by some political appointment made by a Chicago politician or by the same sort of fellas that are in charge of the NSA. Hellno. Ew. Yuck. Gross.

 

[warpus]

From what I've read this is the case in the U.S. because anti-corruption legislation is not popular there, and as such a non-electable positions such as the sheriff and other potentially politically-sensitive positions (of power) would likely be corrupted to hell and back by people with money, with not enough regulation in place to prevent it. This way you don't eliminate the corruption, but you prevent crooks from filling these positions with hand-picked candidates that will do their bidding.

 

[Berzerker]

electing officers is probably a reaction to the king sending his men to enforce unpopular laws... I'd rather have a local sheriff I can vote for or against than a state or federal appointee

 

[BvBPL]

Why does the USA, elect sheriffs, who each have their own set of differing values, policies and standards, and look what problems those bring recently. Most other countries have a national police force where they all adhere the same values, policies and standards, regardless of where they are in the country.

Constitutionally, local police powers are vested in state governments, not the national one. So it would be illegal to establish a national police force under our Constitution.

A locally elected sheriff is also theoretically more responsive to the needs and desires of the community he serves. Regardless of what you think of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, it can't be denied that he's very popular with his electorate.

The US is also an incredibly diverse nation. The law enforcement needs for, say, an urban, high-income, densely populated county are vastly different from those of a more rural, poorer, less populated county. It would be difficult to imagine broad national standards that also allow for sufficient variance based upon local need.

Then there's the fact that we think that it is simply superior to elect officials.

 

[PhroX]

I dunno, they seem to all have similar standards when it comes to shooting black people....

 

[BvBPL]

For some reason, the news doesn't report those occasions where a black person isn't shot by the police.

 

[Formaldehyde]

For some reason, some people actually try to rationalize and defend such reprehensible acts which occur far more frequently with blacks than with whites.

Not all counties have elected sheriffs. One state doesn't have any at all. Electing them actually works quite well, as I pointed out in detail in the original thread discussing this very same topic.