The Honorable Norman Wood, Kent County Sheriff , requested an opinion from the Delaware State Attorney General as to whether or nor a Sheriff and his deputies have the power to arrest. http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/office/opinions/2012/12-IIB3.pdf.
In Sussex County the deputies had been transporting prisoners until Christopher was elected. That and numerous sections of the state code, and the state constitution gave them powers of arrest. In fact until the late 1970's going back to the establishment of the Sheriff in 1669 Sussex County Sheriffs did make arrests when necessary.
In the 1980s the State Police expanded and municipalities had their own police forces. State patrols assumed jurisdiction in unincorporated outlying county areas and the Sheriffs mainly handle paperwork for the courts. In Sussex County they were armed and sworn in because they transported prisoners until 2010.
Jeff Christopher ran for Sheriff of Sussex county on a platform of equipping, training, and certifying deputies ( all former police officers ) so that they could make stops and take action if they encountered any affront to the peace whilst on duty. He was elected and that's where the trouble started.
Even though the Sheriff is by statute and well settled case law an independent executive in his county the Sussex County Council sought to forbid the Sheriff from having any law enforcement power. Of course this is counter intuitive to most Americans who understand that having a law enforcement official responsive to the voters in critical to preserving the republic.
However here in Delaware it's more about power and money than rights or freedoms. The legislature passed and the Governor signed an arguably illegal bill stripping the Sheriff of statutory powers to arrest however the case is being argued in court that those powers originate in the State Constitution and not the code, therefore the Sheriffs arguably still possess the power of arrest.
The matter is no doubt headed to the highest courts. Most of the opinion from A.G. Biden hangs it hat on "Conservator of the Peace" being an undefined term. In point of fact, the precise page cited by D.A.G. Kent Walker actually uses the Delaware Constitution as a scholarly example and re-enforces that a Conservator of the Peace makes arrests in the context of a Sheriff.
Opponents of the office of the elected Sheriff will make arguments based on exaggerated tax burdens (we are talking about equipment, liability insurance, and training for four to six deputies) and some sense of 'modernizing' the state law to 'clarify' the duties of the Sheriff.
Case law on the matter is well settled and the argument continually comes back to "Yes, but this is Delaware". Which is true, being a state in America. Some restrictions may apply.
The issue is one of due process and equal protection. The voters of Sussex County did not get theirs. Perhaps Fourteenth Amendment territory?
Then we have another opinion, The Delaware and Kent County SPCAs respectively are endowed with law enforcement powers and the A.G. strictly supports this in another opinion. Yet the Animal Control Officers are not Council On Police Training certified as the Sheriff's opinion seems to require for one to be a 'peace officer' and make arrests. http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/office/opinions/2012/12-IIB8.pdf
Interestingly, any complaints against ACOs are ignored. Those with the money to sue have to date been settled having signed non disclosure agreements. There is no oversight and the state keeps insisting that because KCSPCA is a private non profit all internal matters must be taken up with the board of directors. Which is ludicrous. A criminal complaint isn't the same as complaining about the guest soap selection in the powder room.
So in Delaware an elected Sheriff may not instruct his Deputies to make traffic stops for reckless driving but the dog catcher can have you arrested without probable cause and nobody will do anything about it unless you're rich enough to pay a lawyer and can find one to take your case.
Those are not hypothetical situations, this is on the books as being reality in Delaware both with the latter and former examples. Real people and real stories. No wonder we rank so high in corruption consistently.
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