Re: Anyone else think this is odd?
Hah. Around here we have the following police forces:
1 the city cops. Their jurisdiction ends at city limits.
2 the sheriff’s office. Their jurisdiction is everywhere in the county not covered by a city police force. Several local cities have abolished their cop shops and contracted with the sheriff for policing.
2a the school cops. They are part of the sheriffs office, and have jurisdiction on every public school in the county, including those inside cities which have their own cops.
3 the state cops. They mostly are traffic enforcement on major roads. (county, state, and federal roads, interstates, the Turnpike, that kind of thing.) they also have helicopters and SWATs, and are heavy backup for the county and city cops.
3a the state fisheries and wildlife cops. They do enforcement of regulations in rural areas, hunting/fishing licenses, boating, that kind of thing. They are also the emergency team sent out after natural disasters. Famously Florida Fish & Wildlife were the first rescue force into Alabama after Hurricane Katrina, as Jeb Bush was not an idiot while the soon to be voted out governor of Alabama was. Jeb also mobilized more National Guardsmen than Alabama and Louisiana combined, when the hurricane wasn’t even headed for Florida but was going to Alabama and Louisiana. Competent government, something we don’t see much of nowadays.
3b the transport cops. They mostly operate in the same areas as normal state cops, but hunt large trucks doing something silly. They’ll usually ignore anything not a truck or at least a van, but if you annoy them they’ll go for smaller vehicles, and they levy bigger fines.
3c the National Guard. There for when the governor feels the need for serious force. Also disaster relief.
4 the federal cops. That would be border patrol, at all airports and seaports as well as at borders, federal transport cops at airports and seaports and railroads, the marshals, the FBI, the secret service (mostly hunting counterfeiters), federal fish & wildlife, and a lot more.