We were fairly new residents of Delaware when the state legislature stripped the county sheriffs of their arrest powers, so I’m not sure why they did this or if they had the legal power to do so.
Last week, when I was in New Jersey at a shopping mall, I had an opportunity to ask two sheriff’s deputies if they had arrest powers. I saw their guns so was not surprised when they replied that they did. I then asked them if they knew that the sheriff was the highest law enforcement officer in the county. They clearly knew that and probably wondered why I asked.
As an elected official, it is the sheriff’s duty to protect the people by putting himself between us citizens and the government when the government acts unconstitutionally in a way that jeopardizes the people’s rights, even if it’s legislators, judges or federal agents. Without arrest powers, he cannot fulfill this duty. While police have arrest powers, this is not their job.
Thomas Jefferson said (in part), “When all government … shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided … and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.” Sheriff Richard Mack, who successfully sued the federal government because of the Brady Bill’s intrusive measures, concludes in his book, “The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope,” that “the county sheriff is our nation’s last line of defense for the preservation (of) and return to fundamental and individual liberty.” The sheriff is “to stand tall and to protect his or her constituents from ‘all enemies, both foreign and domestic.’ This is the ultimate check and balance, and it falls squarely on the shoulders of the county sheriff. … The integrity of our oaths should never be contingent upon the hope that the legislatures and judges will be proper and lawful and constitutionally correct. … America and freedom always come first.” What a great and selfless purpose! We need to support our sheriffs, so they can protect us and keep us free.
An additional thought: With all the shootings in Dover, Wilmington and New Castle County in general, if the sheriffs in Delaware were given more authority, perhaps they might be able to assist local law enforcement with some of their duties and allow those local police officers more time on the streets in high-crime areas.
Lorrie Gloede
Dover
