Hi ML:
That's a good site. Here's another one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County_Sheriff%27s_Department
So... would there be a police station with a small jail? Would it be called a police station or something else?
Yes, Sheriff's offices have jails. Think the American Western movies.
Fundamentally, the Sheriff enforces law in the county (big in area) and the Police Departments do the cities (incorporated areas). Here's the order of officers:
Sheriff (Elected by popular vote and usually academy trained but not necessarily.)
Undersheriff (sometimes)
Deputies (trained in the academy and used county-wide.)
Technically the cities are in the counties, so jurisdiction is sometimes an issue and they do overlap.
With respect to Smallville, it's so small and most of the population is spread out on rural farms except for a small town center, so they don't have a Police Department. The Sheriff is the top law there. Police Chiefs are appointed by a board and not elected.
We never use the word constable. I can tell I'm in Canada (or Washington state and the border states) when I hear that term on the news.
If you need a beta on that particular section, I volunteer.
Another bit of trivia: Sheriff's uniforms are brown, Police uniforms are blue or dark blue. None of our police have hats with striped or checkered bands on them.
Also more trivia: The paint schemes on boats and helicopters are reversed between the US and Canada.
US - white boats/ helicopter bodies with red large diagonal stripes.
Canada - red boats/helicopter bodies with white diagonal strips on them. Usually there is an insignia of the unit on the stripes.
regards
Artemis
P.S. Virginia posted while I was and she has it right. I also live in an isolated small town. The county seat is 3 hours away over mountain roads from our town. We have both Police and a Sheriffs office and Highway Patrol since we are on a major highway.
Our Police have a jail, but very limited holding capacity and most offenders have to be transported to the county seat if they have to stay overnight. It makes for a lot of driving. In contrast, look at the article on the LA county Sheriff.
