# Sheriffs and Mayors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372 "2011-10-31T11:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/1 "2011-10-31T11:20:37Z")
On Once Upon a Time, the mayor was giving the Sheriff orders. Now in WI and MN, Sheriff is an elected county position, and the mayor of the county seat (or any other city in the county) has no legal authority over the sheriff. Now I’m sure there some cooperation with the police dept (possibly with some turf fighting) but again no legal authority. But I know other states do things differently. Some cities are counties (or multiple counties) all by themselves, and in some states some cities are independant. So, do mayors have legal authority over sheriffs in other states? Brian ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/2 "2011-10-31T11:47:42Z")
Mayors have no authority over the Sheriff in Tennessee. Not sure of the situation in the counties that have gone Metro. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/3 "2011-10-31T11:49:42Z")
Well, in Texas “Sheriff” is the title of the head of the county police force and is an elected position. “Chief” is the head of the city police force and is appointed by the city mayor. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/4 "2011-10-31T11:54:45Z")
Can any elected official have legal authority over another elected official? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/5 "2011-10-31T12:52:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Can any elected official have legal authority over another elected official? Some argue the legal part but the Prez seems to get away with it a lot. ::: just sayin :::: ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/6 "2011-10-31T13:39:58Z")
> [@Smitty](#): > > Well, in Texas “Sheriff” is the title of the head of the county police force and is an elected position. “Chief” is the head of the city police force and is appointed by the city mayor. Probably the only thing NY has in common with TX! ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/7 "2011-10-31T13:43:22Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > On Once Upon a Time, the mayor was giving the Sheriff orders. I’m guessing what you really meant was “Once upon a time in Hollywood”. ETA—and I see by a google search you are talking about a TV show. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/8 "2011-10-31T13:55:57Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Some argue the legal part but the Prez seems to get away with it a lot. ::: just sayin :::: ??? Just because someone is elected doesn’t mean they have complete autonomy. Whether the Sheriff is subservient to a mayor depends on the jurisdiction. There are more than 3000 counties in the US, with lots of variations on the structure of government. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/9 "2011-10-31T13:56:38Z")
IIRC, isn’t the position of Sheriff “Shire Reeve”, the guy who enforced the law in the county/shire. The position was sort of copied into the colonies. County being bigger than city (usually), and the governments being separate, the mayor would have no authority over a county official. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/10 "2011-10-31T14:05:19Z")
Yep. Two totally different spheres of authority. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/11 "2011-10-31T14:12:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yep. Two totally different spheres of authority. Agreed. One is part of the City Gov the other part of the county. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/12 "2011-10-31T14:17:36Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Some argue the legal part but the Prez seems to get away with it a lot. ::: just sayin :::: The president doesn’t have any authority to give orders to any other elected official. Every elected official has an independent authority and mandate. That’s true of every place that has an elected sheriff. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/13 "2011-10-31T14:51:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The president doesn’t have any authority to give orders to any other elected official. Can’t he order the President of the Senate around? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/14 "2011-10-31T15:46:30Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Can’t he order the President of the Senate around? In a legal sense, no. In a practical sense, the VP does not take the President’s suggestions lightly. That’s because pretty much everything the VP does (aside from waiting for the other guy to die) consists of jobs that the President does not want to do himself. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/15 "2011-10-31T15:51:55Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Can’t he order the President of the Senate around? The President of the Senate does not have to bring POTUS his coffee when asked… depends if he’s expecting to be on the ticket in 4 years. Before the constitution as “fixed” there was at least one case where the president was not even from the same party as the VP. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/16 "2011-10-31T16:20:50Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > So, do mayors have legal authority over sheriffs in other states? I can think of one present-day jurisdiction where a Mayor has legal authority over a Sheriff - the [City of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London). The (mainly ceremonial) [Lord Mayor of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Mayor_of_the_City_of_London) – not to be confused with the [Mayor of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_London) – is helped in his or her duties by two subordinate [Sheriffs of the City of London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheriff_of_the_City_of_London). The Lord Mayor certainly has authority over the Sheriffs, and in fact every Lord Mayor should “[have previously been Sheriff so that he may be tried as to his governance and bounty before he attains to the Estate of Mayor](http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Local_history_and_heritage/sheriffs.htm)”. So what does this have to do with a US city in a 21st-Century TV show? I have not seen [Once Upon a Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_%28TV_series%29), but according to the plot synopsis “time is frozen in Storybrooke”. Might it make sense for a TV show based on characters from European fairy tales to contain mysterious elements that are based on real-world prototypes that have been in existence for nearly 1000 years? Specifically, might a Mayor give orders to a Sheriff because that’s how things worked in the kind of time and place from which the TV show’s characters originate? If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that the Lord Mayoralty has been associated with folklore; [Dick Whittington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Whittington) of [pantomine fame](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Whittington_and_His_Cat) was a Sheriff and four-time Lord Mayor of London. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/17 "2011-10-31T17:11:17Z")
Yes, sorry that I didn’t mention that it was a TV show. The characters are fairy tale characters, but most don’t know it. However, it was strongly implied (if not directly stated) that the mayor did help the sheriff win his election, so there maybe some payback there. The same thing (mayor ordering the sheriff) on Picket Fences (set in Wisconsin). I forget the poulation of fictional Rome, but I think it was big enough to have its own police department. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/18 "2011-10-31T17:18:32Z")
[Sheriff Lays Down the Law for El Dorado County Board of Supervisors](http://youtu.be/uImJA-OvQko) ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/19 "2011-10-31T18:01:54Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The president doesn’t have any authority to give orders to any other elected official. Every elected official has an independent authority and mandate. That’s true of every place that has an elected sheriff. I disagree. A county sheriff would be subject to orders from a county court judge or from a district attorney, both of whom are elected. A mayor could have authority over a sheriff with respect to operating within the city limits. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372/20 "2011-10-31T18:10:37Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > [Sheriff Lays Down the Law for El Dorado County Board of Supervisors](http://youtu.be/uImJA-OvQko) Awesome! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriffs-and-mayors/601372.md?page=2)