A MOVEMENT TOWARD SAFETY
If you have been arrested, had a family member deported or had a neighbor kicked out of their house, the sheriff has likely played a major role in your life.
Sheriffs are leading the fight to build new jails, sidestep gun safety laws and undermine our elections. From local communities to Congress, sheriffs are active, organized and powerful forces opposing law enforcement accountability and fighting against progress on everything from abortion access to LGBTQ+ rights to campaign finance reform.
The path to a more just, safe and equitable world runs through sheriffs. If you believe in this vision, the fight to reimagine sheriffs is your fight too.
Want to learn more?
RESOURCES
WHAT DO SHERIFFS DO?
From the Defund Sheriffs toolkit
Sheriff’s offices are county-wide law enforcement with three key roles:
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Like police departments, sheriffs and their deputies patrol the streets and make arrests, particularly in suburban and rural areas. They choose who to arrest and how to arrest, often perpetuating state violence. They often serve as officers within schools, contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Whether someone is arrested by a police officer, a sheriff’s deputy or a state trooper, they’re usually brought to a jail controlled by a sheriff. There are more than 11 million unique admissions to jail each year and roughly 80% of people are detained in jails controlled by sheriffs. With the lack of sufficient health options, jails have become the default institution for people with mental health issues or substance use disorder. Those same jails are central to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation machine (often through voluntary decisions by the sheriff).
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Sheriff’s offices enforce evictions and issue permits for concealed weapons and for political protests.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The office of the sheriff is an invention of a country built on the enslavement and subjugation of Black people. For nearly four centuries, America’s approach to public safety has been defined by a system that resorts to guns and batons and jail cells as the solution to all of society’s problems in an effort to protect the interests of those with wealth and power.
Credit: Communities for Sheriff Accountability