What is the difference between all the various Law Enforcement people of the USA.?

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Steve

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As a regular visitor to Florida USA, I would like to ask someone from the USA whats the difference between their Law Enforcement officers. I've seen whilst visiting the USA - Police (ie: Orange / Polk county Police) several cars marked "Sherriff" likewise with "Deputy" and "State Trouper" What's the difference ?

Is it a ranking system similar to the UK with Police being ranked in their county forces from Constable to Chief Constable ?
 
Sheriffs are usually run by the county and they are known as sheriff deputy's. State troopers are run by the state and usually only handle traffic matters, but can assist in any type of police matter when needed. State troopers have power in any part of the state, where as sheriffs only have power in the county in which they work.
 
For the most part, police presence varies from state to state in the US, so this may not be 100% (I'm not from Florida, but it's not that big of a variation, I'm sure).

Most cities have their own police force. Those officers handle any law enforcement matters within their district.
Then some counties, or even sometimes groups of cities, have a regional police organization that covers the area agreed upon. In the case of a county, they would be able to do any police duties within the county, but generally would not cover a city with its own force. The regional police would usually be a sheriff's office.
State Troopers (in some states, State Highway Patrol) are generally responsible for state highways, but can also respond to other incidents, especially in rural areas that aren't served by a local or county police force.
Also, resources are shared in cases where the local departments don't have the capacity to handle certain crimes (for instance, a small town doesn't have a crime lab, so they turn a murder case over to a major crimes squad from the sheriff's department).

Each department can have its own ranking system of officers, from patrolman up to Chief.
It can get a little confusing, but I hope that helped a little.
 
I'm not sure as I am English, but I believe it is a restriction of control thing.

State Troupers are the only ones allowed to patrol the highways and can venture out of the city and county limits.

Police cover the city limits.

Sheriff dept cover the suburbs, but are not allowed outside of county lines.

FBI will cover crimes that span more than one state, but also major incidents.
 
Sheriff and State Patrol in all states have state wide jurisdiction in their state respectively in any type case. Police are limited to metro/city limits of towns. Then you have each agencies investigative and other units plus federal agencies.
 
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