Death of the County or Lost At SeaOriginally Posted by BLBereans
David Merrill has given insight as to what happens when a county is swallowed up by municipalities--Five Burroughs of New York for example. My kurt explanation is along the lines that the residents (or the electorate) are presumed dead. Imagine the logic: how can the dead, die again?
Ever notice that police tend to wear blue or black and sheriffs tend to wear brown or reddish colors? The blue and black is a clue. Red and brown are associated with life, soil, land, blood.
Sheriffs Are Not Police
IMHO its worth noting that sheriffs aren't municipal officers (sheriffs are not "police") and instead tend to be county officers with the county being a subdivision of a state. Clarke as sheriff isn't a municipal policy enforcement officer. Sheriffs aren't "police" but are law enforcement officers, "shire keepers". From observation it has seemed that the municipalist don't like sheriffs and have gone out of the way to put sheriffs "in the corner" because they know what sheriffs stand for and can do. Sheriffs in many jurisdictions have tended AFAIK to be underfunded as a means for liberal, progressive legislatures to control or obstruct them. Where sheriffs are elected and mentioned in state constitutions, they are agents of the People.
Removing Shackles & Blinders
While many "Afro Americans" and others who feel jaded by the US system might have a hard time breaking with entrenched mental habits, the county sheriff can be a powerful ally in defense of rights. Those Ferguson Police are part of the "municipal" or "dead corporate" known as "City of Ferguson". Sheriffs are very much likely aware of this and tend to stay out the municipality mess (perhaps the view might be "its your business if you got yourself entangled in that"--if you chose to be part of a municipality). If you elect to be a municipality-ite, the sheriff will probably step back and presume your relationship with the municipality and the municipality's functions are "functional"--unless you make the contrary known. Consider also, for a home-rule city like St. Louis City, Mo. the Mayor is the go-to for certain things, but the sheriff (a county officer, as opposed to a municipal officer of the City of St. Louis) deals with county matters (the courts and management of the county jail).
AFAIK, sheriffs tend to presume inferior municipal officers are doing their jobs honestly. A sheriff is typically the principal conservator of the peace of a county. For a city, this might tend to be the mayor. A city tends to most always be "in" a county even if its an independent or homerule city--thusly the sheriff would have superior jurisdiction.
"Whites" and "Blacks" might do well to get wise about the powers of both sheriffs and notaries.
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