In the Sheriff We Trust
azcir.org
azcir.org
>>In nearly every County I've lived in the Sheriff was an elected position. King County WA (the Seattle metro area) is the only counter-example. That used to be an elected position until a recent-ish (2020?) popular vote changed the County Sheriff to an appointed position (appointed by the elected County Executive).
In Washington State, the Revised Code of Washington (our state law) defines a Sheriff and their duties, which do not include enforcement of Federal or State laws, but rather keeping the peace and executing the orders of the Court. They do have a defined duty to make "complaint of all violations of the criminal law", but things like Covid restrictions would not fall under that.
This brings the most powerful enforcer of the law in the US very close to the citizens and voters. They know this person and can personally remove them from office in small elections.
Most US states have elections for their chief law enforcement officer, the attorney general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_United_States_attorney_ge...
The Sheriff is a county election, and is likely to be known (or even well known) in the community even before being elected.
I have been told by a sheriff deputy that the sheriff is the highest authority in the county, above all other authorities, that even the Presidents have to ask permission to enter their county. I am guessing this would include attorney generals as well.
Seems like this would present a plethora of prosecutable offenses if a DA had the support to take them on.
[1] https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/study-shows-california...