Though all departments are blanketed by the term “Law Enforcement.” Many do not know the differences between the different levels of enforcement. There are four main levels of Law enforcement. Those are city municipal, county, state, and federal.
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City
The city is the smallest level of law enforcement, positioned within the limits of any city they enforce the local ordinances along with any applicable, city, county, and state laws. Tampa Police Department for example only covers Law enforcement within the city of Tampa as shown below within the graphic. The department is split there into three different districts to cover the different parts of the city. The Chief of police is normally an internal employee who has been promoted to the position and they report to the Mayor.
County
The county or most commonly used term Sheriff’s department covers as their name states the county enforces the law in the county they reside, these departments are normally larger than their city counterparts and operate on a larger budget. They do not enforce city based laws but do enforce county and state statutes. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office covers the area depicted above and to the right. This department is split into five patrol districts much larger than the ones used by the city police department. The main difference between the county and the city is that the county provides officers for the courts and normally runs the jail system. The county currently maintains three active jails that service all the cities within the county.
The Sheriff differing from the Police Chief is an elected official chosen by the people and in some areas need not be at any time a Law Enforcement officer.
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