CO's Considered LEO's?

[Kisspik002]

I agree that most cops don't bash the guys that work the line or guys that are deputized it is more of a generalized statement that unfortunately are only a handful of the political hacks that give us all a bad name. I agree with the jails should be merged with state DOC if not then let the sheriffs department do more of a dual role.

 

[Deleted member 22390]

there's been talk of building a intake center in the county then it would be more hands on, like you see on tv shows like "jail" but like I said these are just rumors

 

[Kisspik002]

That's called a regional lock up. There have been rumors in my county of this for a long time.

 

[Big Daddy 45acp]

That's called a regional lock up. There have been rumors in my county of this for a long time.

They were talking about this when I got on the job in '86, when I left in '99 and within the last year.

 

[KMM696]

See: Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction

There are a fair number of towns in Hampshire county that don't have full time PDs, never mind lockups. Sheriff Dept. is essential out here.

 

[Len-2A Training]

See: Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction

There are a fair number of towns in Hampshire county that don't have full time PDs, never mind lockups. Sheriff Dept. is essential out here.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding (I used to work out there long ago) was that the MSP handled all calls when the PT PD wasn't available. I'm not aware of any Sheriff Dept patrolling the area or responding to calls (other than perhaps a LEC or mutual aid call for dogs/specialized services).

 

[KMM696]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding (I used to work out there long ago) was that the MSP handled all calls when the PT PD wasn't available. I'm not aware of any Sheriff Dept patrolling the area or responding to calls (other than perhaps a LEC or mutual aid call for dogs/specialized services).

Sorry - essential in the we don't have a lockup, and don't have full time officers to babysit a prisoner at the MSP barracks sense. Sheriffs cover that for us.

 

[In God We Trust]

There was talk among the town officials around Devens that the state police (c-9) were going away. The Sheriffs were going to take over patrol duties for the Devens area and DoD was going to keep any of the military land there. I have not heard anything about it in a while though, not sure what happened to the idea.

 

[mark056]

There was talk among the town officials around Devens that the state police (c-9) were going away. The Sheriffs were going to take over patrol duties for the Devens area and DoD was going to keep any of the military land there. I have not heard anything about it in a while though, not sure what happened to the idea.

That's one I never heard. I don't think so. Part of the problem with Sheriff's Dept patrolling is that Devens sits in both Middlesex and Worcester counties and i don't see the Sheriff's in this state getting into the active patrol business even though some like Plymouth might like to.

 

[In God We Trust]

That's one I never heard. I don't think so. Part of the problem with Sheriff's Dept patrolling is that Devens sits in both Middlesex and Worcester counties and i don't see the Sheriff's in this state getting into the active patrol business even though some like Plymouth might like to.

Yeah it sounded weird to me also, but I know for a fact it was discussed as an option of what to do with Devens. The DoD guys can't really patrol it because the big Army idiots still think that posse commitatus (sp?) applies to them. The SP don't want it because they have a hard time figuring out how to drive a cruiser under 85 MPH. There was talk years ago about making Devens a town, but that also got voted down.

 

[Kisspik002]

I dont think your going to see any sheriffs out on patrol. Local and state cops will be very pissed off. Which I think is dumb every uniform on the street is a good thing, but when politics play the main role, you wont see sheriffs on patrol

 

[OfficerObie59]

Sorry - essential in the we don't have a lockup, and don't have full time officers to babysit a prisoner at the MSP barracks sense. Sheriffs cover that for us.

So take those Sheriffs assets and give them to MSP or the local town, or better yet take 3 towns and regionalize under MGL ch. 41, s. 99B.

I just think Sheriffs in MA are an antiquated, inefficient relic of times gone by.

 

[OfficerObie59]

I dont think your going to see any sheriffs out on patrol. Local and state cops will be very pissed off. Which I think is dumb every uniform on the street is a good thing, but when politics play the main role, you wont see sheriffs on patrol

It pisses off state and local police for the reasons I stated above.

Every uniform isn't necessarily a bonus if they're not properly trained.

 

[M1911]

So take those Sheriffs assets and give them to MSP or the local town, or better yet take 3 towns and regionalize under MGL ch. 41, s. 99B.

I think regionalization would make sense, but probably too much sense for it to happen. I don't see the point in Wayland, Weston, Sudbury, and Lincoln each having their own police station, police chief, lockup, dispatch center, etc. To my uninformed eyes, it seems like there could be significant savings through regionalization.

 

[mark056]

So take those Sheriffs assets and give them to MSP or the local town, or better yet take 3 towns and regionalize under MGL ch. 41, s. 99B.

I just think Sheriffs in MA are an antiquated, inefficient relic of times gone by.

Actually in most jurisdictions in the United States, Sheriff's Departments fill an intermediate need in law enforcement. In most states county governments have some impact. When Mass made county government optional and in half of the 14 counties it was abolished. In effect regionalization under MGL ch. 41 s. 99B has the potential for creating what amounts to de facto counties. So we get rid of county government, but yet we regionalize school districts, dispatch service and law enforcement.

You see Deputy Sheriffs in Mass as CO's not LEOS, but the simple fact is that if Sheriffs took over the LEO mission, their personnel would have to be academy trained and certified peace officers just like in about 47 or 48 other states. You have probably never lived anywhere where sheriffs were LEOs. The county I lived in going to high school in Arizona was larger than Mass and RI combined (it has since split into two counties).

The MSP and local PDs will see to it that Sheriff's Depts in Mass will never become real law enforcement, but creating regional LEO organizations are creating just that.

 

[KMM696]

So take those Sheriffs assets and give them to MSP or the local town, or better yet take 3 towns and regionalize under MGL ch. 41, s. 99B.

I just think Sheriffs in MA are an antiquated, inefficient relic of times gone by.

I live in times gone by. In that sense, the Hampshire county lockup the Sheriff runs makes sense to me.

Of the towns in Hampshire county, I can ID at least 7 of them as having no full time officers; and 2 more as having one full timer, if you count one person being police and fire chief full time and the other a full time officer for 2 towns splitting their salary. The biggest town of those 9 has 2500 residents, the smallest 550. IIRC, our salary budget for my town's (pop. ~1200) PD this year was $15k, which is fairly typical of the others.

Getting 3 towns to agree on regionalized facilities would be extremely difficult, getting 9 in agreement would be impossible. And, they still couldn't afford it. I'm happy the Sheriffs COs are there to take our prisoners - if I have to watch them at the MSP barracks when I should be at my real job, I lose $21/hour doing it. MSP can't spare manpower - since they aren't tied to a county, they are the only full time police for even more towns than the 9 in Hampshire Cty.


Sure, our license plates say Massachusetts, but we don't really have a hell of a lot in common with the more populated areas of the Commonwealth. Never mind getting a DD in town, it's 22 miles to the first place that sells coffee 24/7.

I suppose that's why I don't get into these discussions much - not much common ground to talk about. Why, next you'll be telling me they've put computers inside cruisers!

 

[Kisspik002]

If you have our sheriff academy and the mass part time academy then I think you are trained enough to patrol the streets of any town or city. I agree that some people think their heros and make the properly trained guys look bad. New England is the only part of the US where sheriffs dept don't play an active role on patrol. Plus the only assets that my dept has in a mobile command unit that was a grant, not to mention our sheriff gives it out to any chief or town that needs it. We drive shitty cars, have shitty equipment. Im sure the counties near Boston have all the toys, but not most of them. So no one should get to huffy about it. Yes in MA sheriffs depts play a more correctional based role and I'm ok with that, yes there are guys that are POLITICAL deputies and there the ones out thinking there robocop. But most the guys that have the partime academy along with our 12 week academy would have equivalent training to a municipal trained cop.


On that note I'm NOT looking to get into an ego argument with any cops or other COs about who is better. COs are LEOs no matter state, county or fed

 

[Len-2A Training]

I suppose that's why I don't get into these discussions much - not much common ground to talk about. Why, next you'll be telling me they've put computers inside cruisers!

No, next I'm going to tell you that we don't have hand-cranks for starters on our cruisers "out East"!

Eat your heart out over that one!

 

[Kisspik002]

And to add I know LEO refers to a law enforcement officer. Even though we're correctional officer I believe we fall under the law enforcement tree.