This is one issue that always confuses the hell out of me. There are tons of enforcement agencies in the USA, from the DEA to the FBI down to the local sheriff, and in films (or 'movies') they're always shown bickering over who has 'jurisdiction', whether it be Sheriff arguing with State Police, or the State Police with the FBI. Does this occur in Real life? And another thing, if the sheriff, city and state Police are all different, who the hell funds what, and how is 'jurisdiction' decided?

Yours,

A very confused Brit

I'll let one of our colleagues across the pond answer this one, I used to be as confused as you about this but now it kind of makes sense.

Haha. No, it doesn't happen in real life.
Well, I'm sure it has from time to time in the past and maybe will again but our S.O.P. lists specific types of emergency situations and who handles what.

The way jurisdictional issues usually occur is when a certain agency doesn't want to handle something (maybe they aren't equipped for it or don't have the manpower) and they hand it off to someone else.

Ok, I have an example. Your house has been burgled. Do you call the sheriff or the State police?

You dial 911 (or 999 for you people without 1's on your phones). They'll send the appropriate person out. Here it would be the Sheriff's Office.

Ah I see. My local police shoot on sight for dialling 999 for burglaries that are not in progress.

What about non-urgent situations that require police attention, is that still 911?

770-471-4242

Ask for Sgt. Acree.

Here, we hunt down the burgler, and thrash them within an inch of their life.
















I live in unincorperated Clayton County. When I call the cops, the County Police come. If I was in the city of Jonesboro, the city cops come. To make things more confusing, the State Patrol, patrols Tara Blvd. (State roads 19 and 41)

Clear?

No, but I'm eternally grateful that our Police are national and integrated. One uniform, one boss.

Generally, the local city police will respond to calls for service within their geographical boundaries. In areas with no city police (small towns, unincorporated areas, etc) that duty usually falls upon the county sheriff. The state police generally patrol the larger roadways and handle calls for service in areas that have no city police or county sheriff. They may also patrol certain areas under contract with a town or village.

The federal agencies don't handle calls for service, except for at federal facilities (court houses, federal office buildings, Veterans Affairs hospitals, etc.) Their work is more investigative in nature, although sometimes their leads will come from state/county/local police calls (i.e. a bank robbery). Each federal crime has one or more agencies that are responsible for it. So, for example, the FBI does bank robberies, the Secret Service does counterfeiting, the ATF does gun crimes, etc. There is always some overlap, especially with drug cases, but the agencies tend to work well in those situations.

Make sense?

Yes, that is much clearer, thank you!

I prefer ours I think!

Ours is much simpler, we're the sheriffs and no one can step on our toes or take jurisdiction from us

Well you have differnt forces for each county and in some circumstances in the same city (met and cit pol) while here its just us pretty much, psni to certain extent but jurisdiction is clearly defined

Apart from the city being within the metropolitan police area and BTP policing the rail network there isn't anyone else who could step on eachother toes.
I know you have modplod, military police and those nuclear chaps but these each have specific areas so also shouldn't step on our toes.