Can't sight media.

County sheriffs are first and foremost cops.

They're the top law enforcement officer in the county, the same way that a police chief

is a top officer in a city or a town.

The sheriff has some extra responsibilities, like running the county jail and providing

security for the county courts, and the sheriff has a wider jurisdiction, the whole county,

as opposed to a particular city or town.

But the job, the meat and potatoes of it, is roughly the same as running a police department,

to protect and serve, maintain civic order, catch the bad guys.

The difference, though, is in who the sheriff works for.

The police chief is hired by the mayor or the town council, which means he or she has

a boss to whom they are accountable, because they can be hired, they can also be fired.

The county sheriff, on the other hand, is elected.

Here she answers only to the voters, and so a sheriff can behave, and to some extent

has to behave, as much like a politician, as a law enforcement officer.

In many states, including Tennessee, they can hire friends and family, or anyone who

might pay back a favor.

They can deputize untrained volunteers, like, say, John-John Yancy back in the day, and

there's no real check on their authority other than the voters and the law, which they're

in charge of enforcing.

Here's Ben Barton, the law professor at the University of Tennessee.

The sheriff in all 97 Tennessee counties is an elected office, and it's frequently, as

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