The World of American Drama: From the Los Angeles Patrol

Chapter 829 Characteristics of Backcountry

In the United States, the Sheriff is a relatively unique police system. This must start with the administrative planning of this country.

As everyone knows, the United States was originally just a colony rather than a country. The so-called thirteen North American states when the country was first founded were thirteen colonies built or robbed by British colonists (mainly).

Each colony exists independently, so the so-called North American War of Independence is not a revolution or a change of dynasty in the traditional Chinese concept.

If I have to make an analogy, it is somewhat similar to the Military Extermination Alliance in the Spring and Autumn Period of China. Thirteen vassal states met together, and after agreeing on the distribution of power, a place where everyone could talk was arranged - Washington, Columbia. The District of Columbia (Washington DC) serves as the capital.

Then the thirteen princes formed a United Nations, called the Federation. Therefore, the relationship between the governors of each state and the president is not actually a superior-subordinate relationship. It is for this reason that we often see governors bickering with the president in the news.

As the colonists killed all the indigenous people on this land, that is, the Indians, like bison, and drove the remaining ones into the reservation like protected animals, one after another new ones The vassal states were established and joined the federation one after another.

This is also the reason why the original thirteen states of North America are called the foundation of the founding of the old United States.

Simply put, it is easy to understand that the 50 states of the United States are 50 independent vassal states. This can be seen from the state flag of California, which still has the words "California Republic" written on it.

This is because California was originally part of Mexico. After the Mexican-American War in 1846, immigrants in California staged an independent drama and established the Republic of California.

This country only existed for a total of 25 days. After the United States defeated Mexico, Mexico was forced to sign the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" and renounced this territory. Then California joined the United States as a republic and became California today.

Going back to the process of establishing various colonies, we must know that a city (City) is not built in a day, but develops from small to large. It is a very simple thing to enclose land, but it is not easy to gather the population to develop infrastructure. It might happen overnight.

So before the emergence of cities, the most common ones in a new colony or a state were towns. These towns gathered together became the second-level administrative units of each state - counties. ).

With the gradual development, some towns (Towns) developed into cities (Cities) due to various favorable conditions, location and people, while some remained intact or even gradually disappeared, but in any case, both were collectively referred to as Municipalities (Municipality). ), which is the third-level administrative unit below the county or county level.

This leads to something that is difficult for Chinese people who have been accustomed to the concept of grand unity to understand and confuse. If each state is regarded as a province in China, then in this country, counties (County) and cities (City) ) ranges are usually inconsistent.

In most cases, a county is larger than a city. There may be multiple cities in a county, and in the country of the United States, there is no administrative unit at the rural level.

Still taking California as an example, Los Angeles County, the largest county in California and the largest in the United States, governs a total of 88 cities (Cities) or incorporated areas (Municipality) of varying sizes, including Los Angeles.

On the contrary, New York City is where Jack is now. Due to early development and other factors, the entire New York City is composed of 5 different counties, namely New York County (Manhattan) and Kings County (Brooklyn). ), Bronx County (Bronx), Richmond County (Staten Island), and Queens County (Queens).

Now let’s get down to business. Before the emergence of various states, when there were still settlements, no matter how big or small, someone still needed to maintain order. At this time, the Sheriff, a unique so-called elected policeman, appeared.

Because we are all colonists, outlaws who grabbed the land after killing the Indians, but the outlaws also want to live a peaceful life after washing their hands in the golden basin, so they naturally have basic requirements for order.

In some places, people are busy making money and find it troublesome, so they set up a council, elect a town leader or mayor, and then leave it alone. They discuss how much (tax) everyone should pay together every year.

Every year, the city council or town council allocates funds to the mayor or town chief, who appoints a police chief and recruits several junior officers (police officers) to maintain law and order.

This kind of police chief appointed by the mayor or mayor is a serious local police department, such as LAPD or NYPD, or the Margrave Town Police Department where Jack once caused trouble.

We are not afraid of trouble in some places, especially those remote and underdeveloped areas. We have managed to form a county, but no one has developed particularly well. Some friends have grown up and do not want to see the original ones. Poor friends, just go and have fun by yourself.

Then the counties in these places will collectively elect a strong man with a high military power to be the Sheriff. The parliament at the same level will grant him the power of law enforcement, issue him a badge with a multi-pointed star, and hire him to maintain public order. Of course, sometimes the Sheriff will be too busy, so he will find some strong guys to help, and give them a badge, called Sheriff Deputies. Sometimes they only help temporarily, and the badge will be taken back after the work is done (stingy).

But no matter whether the Sheriff has help or not, there must be a place to work. So at this time, the police station is not called the police station, but the Sheriff's Office.

After the states merged into the federation, this grass-roots team-style regional autonomy method was still retained, forming today's unique security system in the United States.

If you have to compare it with China, it is a bit similar to the village chiefs created in the Han Dynasty in China. Anyway, the imperial power (federal power) does not go to the countryside. You can find a few rural sages and village hegemons to take care of yourselves.

Since it is a grassroots team, the powers of the sheriffs in various states and even counties also vary. In addition to general security maintenance duties such as arresting criminals, serving court documents, executing court arrest warrants, and issuing fines, they also include protecting courts, Tasks such as judging and juries and even guarding prisons and jails.

In some places, transportation, environmental protection, accident investigation, prisoner transportation, and even drug detection and autopsy are also the tasks of the sheriff.

Depending on the size of the county, the size of the Sheriff's Office is also different. In small places, one Sheriff can handle everything with a few Sheriff's assistants, while in larger counties, K9s (dog teams), mounted police and even police helicopters can handle everything. All.

All in all, in areas where there is no coverage by state police or local police departments, the local law enforcement agency is usually the Sheriff's Office, especially in rural areas.

To be honest, Jack is not too happy to deal with the Sheriff's Office, because usually the case thrown out by the other party basically means a complete transfer of blame, and there is no need to expect much cooperation.

It's not necessarily because of attitude, but because they are simply too busy.

For example, St. Francis County, where Forrest is located, has less than 2000 people in nearly 3 square kilometers of land. The entire District Attorney's Office only has one prosecutor and three assistants, so the corresponding Sheriff's Office can have You can imagine how many people there are.

This also led to the fact that when Jack and others rushed to the pool bar where the crime occurred, they didn't see even a sheriff's assistant except for a large closed iron door.

Hannah spent a long time on the phone. An old man with a red neck who smelled of alcohol and claimed to be the owner of the bar arrived belatedly. After opening the fence door with a rusty key, the old guy pointed to the corner of the bar. , and continued to sleep on the table until he was unconscious.

Alice was immediately dumbfounded because what appeared in front of her was an old video tape surveillance camera produced in the 90s.

"Should I go get some popcorn?" Aubrey joked with a gloating look on his face.

The video cassette recorder (VCR) rental business in the United States was still very prosperous even in the early 21st century. The whole family gathering together on the sofa to watch VCRs on weekends has always been one of the beautiful childhood memories of most Americans.

Of course, this industry has gradually died out, replaced by streaming media businesses including Netflix.

Even so, the surveillance system using tape recorders was really an antique, until Jubal and Jiejie sent news that prosecutor Skip Hardy's alibi had been confirmed, and Alice's side I just managed to get this thing done.

Aubrey actually got a bucket of popcorn from nowhere, and Hannah brought some chairs seriously, and everyone sat down in front of the TV together.

"Let's get started. I hope this antique, which is older than me, really captured something." Jack poured a few glasses of Coke and put them on the table in front of everyone.

Alice glared at these miserable guys angrily, found the box with the corresponding time from a pile of video tapes, and stuffed it into the player. After a burst of snowflakes and streaks, the picture appeared. Including Clay, the FBI He actually cheered like a child.

(End of this chapter)