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Comment by cafard | Hacker News Reader

Adams County is in the US, and I don't see much wrong with referring to a sheriff's office as "police". Of course, I don't know what audience the headline writer had in mind. "Ohio" might suggest a state agency, and "Adams County" would lead to confusion, since there are several.

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"US Police" is vague enough to be inaccurate. As written it implies a Federal force since they are direct arms of the US government, while the actual sheriff in question is a county agent. What organization is it referring to? The FBI is a Federal policing force but it's not commonly called the US Police. Is it the Secret Service? The US Postal Inspection Service? The National Park Police? The Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement?

I'd expect a better written headline to use "Adams County, Ohio Sheriff" since that is the most accurate form that conveys what agency did the thing in question.

Sheriffs are US police to anyone not in the US. All of the others you list, too.

Adam’s county or Ohio mean nothing to me.

If I read someone referring to "US Police" I would immediately consider some sort of federal US Marshals service or Secret Service. When we speak of police, we refer to their jurisdiction. Adams County Sheriff has jurisdiction in a county, obviously, not federal, not across state lines, only in that county.

Now I suppose if you're writing headlines for people in Kenya, you might specify "US law enforcement" but "US Police" is just sloppy writing. I didn't see it in the linked article.

"Police in the US" then.

Which in Newsline shorthand would be "US Police".

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