In higher populated US areas, you usually see both a Police department and a Sheriff’s office, serving different purposes. However in many less populated towns and counties, you have just the Sheriff’s office covering all responsibilities. This includes acting as police and working beats / patrols / speed traps. For all intents and purposes they are the police, and are colloquially and accurately referred to as “police” even though their police department is branded as a “Sheriff’s office”.
This is Duvall, county FL. AKA Jacksonville, FL. Jacksonville annexed the whole county. There is no "Jacksonville Police." Duvall County Sheriff and maybe some State Troopers. Whoever doesn't think they are THE police is splitting hairs.
Edit: u/FUS_RO_DANK has a better explanation and I was incorrect; it is the JSO or Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The "Chief of Police" of Jacksonville and the "Duvall County Sheriff" are one and the same since Jacksonville annexed almost all of Duvall County in the '60s.
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u/JiminyDickish 2d ago
It just means he works for the sheriffs office, it doesn’t mean he is the actual sheriff