How sheriffs define law and order for his or her districts depends largely on their views – and most are white Republicans

Many Americans will discover a place on their November 2024 ballot to vote for a very important office: that of local sheriff. Although there are exceptions, sheriffs have long used their power to keep up a certain, unequal balance of power in society, often along racial and sophistication lines.

A recent example of this occurred on September 13, 2024, when Bruce Zuchowski, Sheriff of Portage County, Ohio, posted a message on a Facebook page captioned with a graphic which contained his official portrait and was inscribed together with his official titleZuchowski called on the general public to put in writing down the addresses of individuals whose front yards have campaign signs supporting Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

That way, he said, when immigrants arrive and wish accommodation, “we will already have the addresses of the … families … who supported their arrival.”

The post, which Zuchowski said later appeared on his “personal Facebook page,” included derogatory terms for immigrants and for Harris. It also included screenshots of two Fox News reports on migrants in Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio. Both places had been falsely identified by former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and his running mate JD Vance as sites of dangerous immigrant activity.

Sheriffs within the United States do rarely receive national attention within the news, but Zuchowski’s application was The Washington Post, NBC News And The Guardianamongst other things.

There are greater than 3,000 county-level elected sheriffs within the United States, each with the authority and autonomy to set and implement law enforcement policy. For example, sheriffs in lots of states can resolve whether their deputies wear body cameras and what happens to footage captured during routine stops.

In our book “The Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the USA” we provide a comprehensive have a look at this office and detail the history of sheriffs enforcing inequality each through using formal powers of their office, similar to Cooperation with federal immigration authoritiesand with informal powers, similar to communicating who belongs to their community.

Zuchowski's post demonizing immigrants and targeting individuals who advocate for immigrant rights is, as we document in our book, just a part of an extended history of sheriffs using their power as a tool of social control.

Throughout American history, various sheriffs have participated in social control. In the 18th century, for instance, An Alabama sheriff held slave auctions and Georgia's sheriffs played a central role in Enforcement of slave codesIn the nineteenth century A sheriff in Pennsylvania blocked the union's efforts to guard employees' rights against exploitative corporations. In the twentieth century The role of sheriffs within the South in voter suppression throughout the civil rights movement are well documented. In the twenty first century Racial profiling was an issue within the Enforcement of traffic laws of sheriffs in Arizona and California, amongst others. Zuchowski is just certainly one of the twenty first century sheriffs who’ve been Debate on immigration policy And Immigrant rights.

Personal views affect public service

Following Zuchowski’s post, The Portager, a news website for his community, reported that residents said the The position of sheriff was a voter intimidationSome residents have demanded investigations of the Sheriff's Office by local, state and national authorities, including the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

So far, in response to the Ohio Department of State, the sheriff has no laws broken.

Both in our book and previous workswe document through two national surveys how sheriffs' differing views on race and ethnicity can influence the policies and practices of their office.

Zuchowski’s comments about immigrants, including calling them “illegal human locusts,” denies their humanity from Comparing immigrants with animals.

In our research, we found that sheriffs’ negative attitudes toward immigrants were statistically correlated with Anti-immigration sentimentFor example, sheriffs with more negative attitudes usually tend to have an official policy to ascertain the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses. This association remained even after we controlled for the potential influence of other aspects similar to political party affiliation and the proportion of the native-born population in a sheriff's district.

Likewise, as we show in our book, sheriffs with racist views were less prone to tell us that their deputies were trained to cut back racial and ethnic bias in traffic enforcement. This issue is an issue in Portage County, in response to the local NAACP, which released a report in 2023 claiming that the sheriff's office unfairly targets black drivers.

Politics plays a job

Since his first post, Zuchowski defended himself on social media, writing:

“If the citizens of Portage County If you want to vote for someone who supports open borders (which I have personally visited twice!) and has failed to enforce the laws of our country…that is your right. Elections have consequences. That being said…I believe that those who vote for individuals with liberal policies must take responsibility for their actions! I am a law enforcement officer…not a politician!”

Despite Zuchowski's claims, he is definitely a politician. Like other sheriffs across the United States, he was elected by voters. He was the Republican nominee in 2020 and is running for re-election in 2024.

Like sheriffs across the country, Zuchowski had extensive law enforcement experience, including working within the Portage County Sheriff's Office before running to steer the office. We found that greater than 85% of sheriffs worked for the previous sheriff before running for election. And like most other sheriffs, Zuchowski is white. republican Man. We and Miscellaneous find that over 90% of sheriffs are white and over 98% are male.

Across America, sheriffs can be asking voters for his or her support this fall to remain in office. In most counties, these elections are usually not competitive: Sheriffs normally either without opposition or against weak candidates.

In this respect, Portage County is an exception. Zuchowski’s first selection was a tough fight for a vacant seatand he faces a challenger for re-election within the 2024 election. His Democratic opponent, Jon Barber, can be a white man with a police background.

But Barber's Campaign website highlights one other common challenge for voters: learn how to select a great sheriff. His website talks about transparency, accountability and community policing, but doesn't discuss immigration. Voters aren't given a transparent message about any substantive differences between the 2 candidates.

Will Zuchowski’s comments matter to voters? Elsewhere within the country, voters have re-elected sheriffs who anti-immigration And racist Comments.