Now this was the work of the OC Sheriff's Unresolved Homicide Unit ( which I bet is often called the cold case unit). Do they work with the DA's cold case unit?
I wish I could find a diagram of all OC LE depts, and how they are arranged, and linked. I don't understand the difference between a sheriff's office and a police dept - do all towns have a sheriff? If not, why not? What's the difference between a sworn and non-sworn officer? Is the OC Sheriff the big boss of any other local sheriffs, and is the DA the big boss of all of them?
I don't even know the difference between a sheriff's officer and a police officer, sigh. I would love to know if the hierarchy is all set out somewhere in a nice, simple format. I think it probably isn't though. People who have grown up with the system won't need one, and setting out the hierarchy would look like - well, that there's a hierarchy.
SBM
Here's my best shot at answering your questions.
The US is union of 50 states; each state has its own legal code and the federal government also has a legal code. In most matters, if there is a conflict between federal and state law, federal law trumps state law but there are exceptions and weird cases. Lots of them. But overall, that's how it works: one overarching set of federal laws and 50 sets of state laws. In the US, the model for laws is British common law except for Louisiana which is based in the Napoleonic law.
One overall principle of government in the US is that at some point in every hierarchy, the responsible official is elected. So, for instance, the president of the US is an elected civilian and has authority over all of the military.
Within each state are further subdivisions of territory called counties (except for Louisiana, which has parishes) and cities. Cities are incorporated, meaning that a group of people who lived in close proximity got together and voted to incorporate as a town. A city collects taxes and makes regulations largely regarding property use and commerce. Areas outside of cities are often called unincorporated. Counties collect taxes from property owners in unincorporated areas and makes regulations largely regarding property use and commerce.
At the city level, one of the functions of government is to provide law enforcement. This can be done in one of a number of ways: most cities and towns of a certain size have a police department. Sometimes cities contract out law enforcement duties to the sheriff (see below) or to a private company. The jurisdiction of these law enforcers ends at the city limits.
Counties provide law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of the county, usually by having a sheriff's department. The sheriff's jurisdiction ends at the county lines; in most states, the sheriff's department provides assistance in investigations if requested by a specific city police department but it is a matter of being asked rather than having hierarchical authority over the police department.
Sometimes, in small towns, the town will divide up law enforcement duties between their own police department (for traffic enforcement) and contract with the local sheriff's department for serious investigations.
The chief of police is usually an appointed position and is part of the city's government hierarchy. The chief of police may answer directly to the city council or may answer to the city manager who then answers to the city government. Different cities within the same state can have differing city government hierarchies. The overall principle is that at some point in the food chain, someone has to answer to elected authorities.
At the county level, the position of sheriff is sometimes by appointment and sometimes by election. In places where the sheriff is appointed, the governmental hierarchy makes the sheriff accountable to someone who has been elected. Obviously, in places where the sheriff is elected, the sheriff is accountable to the people who speak via elections. In places where the sheriff is appointed, the county governmental body that appoints the sheriff is elected.
A police officer works for a police department which has jurisdiction over a specific incorporated area of land. A sheriff's deputy works for the sheriff's department, which has jurisdiction over unincorporated territory in that county.
States have a department of investigation which is invited in by the law enforcement agency of a given jurisdiction. The state department of investigation usually has the big money forensic equipment and other expensive investigative tools that local law enforcement agencies just don't have the budget for.
In theory, every citizen has the duty to uphold the law. Under this theory is the principle of the citizen's arrest, where any ordinary citizen can secure the person of someone who has committed a crime until a law enforcement officer of the correct jurisdiction arrives. What keeps people from abusing this principle is laws about unlawful confinement which can carry penalties up to life in prison without parole (in the case of kidnapping or abduction). Every citizen is expected to have enough knowledge of the law to avoid transgressing the law (ignorance of the law is not a defence in the US).
Sworn law enforcement officers are given special training and have special rights and protections under the law that ordinary (unsworn) citizens do not have. For instance, so long as a given LE officer is acting within the laws and policies of their department they are immune from charges of unlawful confinement.
Police officers may arrest suspects for violations of the law but the decision of whether or not to prosecute lies with the local prosecutor.
The hierarchy in most states from bottom to top looks something like this:
*unsworn officers (basically, any citizen)
*sworn officers
*chief of police or county sheriff
*local prosecutor
*local governmental body
*state governmental body
*federal government
Does this clarify anything for you?
