Expert: Chris Wagoner - 8/22/2009

Question
QUESTION: Greetings Mr. Wagoner.

My questions concern a fictional Sheriff's Department in 1980's Arizona. I'm asking what follows based on the bold assumption on my part that police proceedurals are largely identical between different law enforcement agencies across the country, otherwise I'm sorry for wasting your time.

- Is the Sheriff's Department involved in any way in organizing the local elections on a county level? I'm thinking bureaucratic work to make sure everything runs smooth and on schedule.

- Is it usual for the Sheriff to make routine patrols around town and county with his deputies or is his mostly an office job outside of crime situations requiring his attention? I imagine he would like to make his presence felt around the county on a personal level.

- Two farmers are caught up in a dispute about trespassing (one is stealing groundwater from the other's wells). The offendee calls the Sheriff's Dptm and asks that the Sheriff himself come down. Is it normal for the Sheriff to investigate a case like this personally?

- A case involving robbery and homicide is reported to the Sheriff's Department. Assuming the Sheriff is out on patrol and that information would have to be passed on to him through the radio, would the case be reported in a formal or informal manner? What is the proper 'police lingo' that would be used?

- What other crime units would rush to the above crime scene?

- After arriving in the crime scene and assuming control, what directions would the Sheriff give to his deputies? The suspects have fled with a vehicle identified by witnesses, one man is dead.

- What type of firearms is a Sheriff likely to carry with him in the dashboard of his civilian car?

You're welcome to go as far into detail as you see fit. Thank you very much for your time!

ANSWER: Hi Tom,

Well Lets see what we can do for your questions. :)

Q: Is the Sheriff's Department involved in any way in organizing the local elections on a county level? I'm thinking bureaucratic work to make sure everything runs smooth and on schedule.

A: Yes. The Sheriff is involved. They provide election site security at times, and are also the ones to transport the ballots from the polling places to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Q: Is it usual for the Sheriff to make routine patrols around town and county with his deputies or is his mostly an office job outside of crime situations requiring his attention? I imagine he would like to make his presence felt around the county on a personal level.

A: This depends completely on the size of the department and area. A Sheriff in the area of a large city might be very likely to be seen about town at meetings and community groups. But as for patrol, probably not. If its a smaller county and less populated, yes they patrol just like another deputy.

Q: Two farmers are caught up in a dispute about trespassing (one is stealing groundwater from the other's wells). The offender calls the Sheriff's Dept and asks that the Sheriff himself come down. Is it normal for the Sheriff to investigate a case like this personally?

A: He might, based on if its a small department or he knows the people involved. In the 1980's small area Arizona, very possible.

Q: A case involving robbery and homicide is reported to the Sheriff's Department. Assuming the Sheriff is out on patrol and that information would have to be passed on to him through the radio, would the case be reported in a formal or informal manner? What is the proper 'police lingo' that would be used?

A: In the 1980's it was all "codes" speech. Especially, again, in the less populated smaller agencies.

Something like this in the codes:
Dispatch: Sierra 1 can you 10-65.

Sheriff: Sierra 1, 10-4

Dispatch: Sierra 1, 10-65 Signal 41 with a possible signal 7, possible signal 5. Signal 7, possible 5 at "address". "Description of what is reported here". "Then dispatch gives military time at end."

Sheriff: Sierra 1, 10-26, 10-51

Dispatch: Sierra 1, 10-51 at 1440 hours.

Sheriff: Sierra 1 10-97 Signal 41.

[Sierra 1 is what the Sheriff is called in most Sheriff's Offices in Florida. 10-65 means can you copy a call. 10-4 means acknowledged. Signal 41 is Robbery, Signal 7 is dead body/person, Signal 5 is murder, 10-26 is call acknowledged, 10-51 is enroute (on the way), and 10-97 would be arrived.

Q: What other crime units would rush to the above crime scene?

A: Any other available Deputies, Crime scene processing unit once called. ME Office once called.

Q: After arriving in the crime scene and assuming control, what directions would the Sheriff give to his deputies? The suspects have fled with a vehicle identified by witnesses, one man is dead.

A: The Sheriff would set Deputies up to secure the crime scene, and then assign different Deputies different jobs. Crime scene, security and other common crime scene tasks. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/104873/what_happens_when_a_crime_scene_)


Q: What type of firearms is a Sheriff likely to carry with him in the dashboard of his civilian car?

A: If your talking about a backup weapon in the dash, in the 1980's it would be a S&W Chiefs special in .357 cal or .38. Or if he was hard core, might be a Colt 1911 .45ACP.

A lot of what your talking about really depends on the size of the department and the area your talking about, sparse population and small department would fit your scenario much better than a large agency would.

Hope this all helps.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Your answers have been great help Chris just when I was beginning to think there was no way of getting technical inside info short of actually interviewing police officers, so thank you for your time and effort!

A small Sheriff's Dept in a sparsely populated rural area is the focus so I'm glad to hear most everything fits right.

A few follow-up questions if I may.

"A: In the 1980's it was all "codes" speech. Especially, again, in the less populated smaller agencies."

Are these codes available to the public anywhere online? I would be interested to look through them if they are.

With the exception of 'Sierra 1', are the rest of the codes you mentioned the same across the country?


"Dispatch: Sierra 1, 10-65 Signal 41 with a possible signal 7, possible signal 5. Signal 7, possible 5 at "address". "Description of what is reported here". "Then dispatch gives military time at end.""

When you write "Description of what is reported here", do you mean that the dispatch repeats what was reported to him in the 911 call to the Sheriff?


"A: Any other available Deputies, Crime scene processing unit once called. ME Office once called."

Once the Sheriff arrives in the crime scene and the ME is already present, does the ME usually relate info like time and cause of death (if these can be determined) to the Sheriff? Does the ME conduct a preliminary examination on the spot?


Also, from your experience, how are elderly witnesses interrogated by the police? Are they asked to come down to the station to testify, do they get house calls to accomodate for their age and health, or is it left to the good judgement of the Sheriff to decide?


Assuming the suspects for the above mentioned robbery/homicide twofer have fled the crime scene with an unidentified vehicle and none of the witnesseses has seen their faces, what are some standard police measures taken for their possible apprehension? Roadblocks in exit points for the state, routine highway checks, etc? Is there 'anything' at all that can be done and how soon does the police abandon the search?

Again thank you for your time. Much obliged.

Cheers,
Tom

Answer
Q: Are these codes available to the public anywhere online? I would be interested to look through them if they are. With the exception of 'Sierra 1', are the rest of the codes you mentioned the same across the country?

A: They differ from place to place. The codes I used are pretty much Florida wide. You can look at them here:

http://www.bearcat1.com/radiofl.htm

Q: "Dispatch: Sierra 1, 10-65 Signal 41 with a possible signal 7, possible signal 5. Signal 7, possible 5 at "address". "Description of what is reported here". "Then dispatch gives military time at end.""

When you write "Description of what is reported here", do you mean that the dispatch repeats what was reported to him in the 911 call to the Sheriff?

A: Yes they give a brief version of things that they think the responding units need to know.


"A: Any other available Deputies, Crime scene processing unit once called. ME Office once called."

Q: Once the Sheriff arrives in the crime scene and the ME is already present, does the ME usually relate info like time and cause of death (if these can be determined) to the Sheriff? Does the ME conduct a preliminary examination on the spot?

A: Yes, the ME does an on scene exam, but its brief and mostly information gathering. The ME and Police work very well and closely together.

Q: Also, from your experience, how are elderly witnesses interrogated by the police? Are they asked to come down to the station to testify, do they get house calls to accommodate for their age and health, or is it left to the good judgement of the Sheriff to decide?

A: Its up to the Sheriff, but if they were elderly, we would make accommodations, and yes we might even go to their house (house call), to interview them.

Q:Assuming the suspects for the above mentioned robbery/homicide twofer have fled the crime scene with an unidentified vehicle and none of the witnesses has seen their faces, what are some standard police measures taken for their possible apprehension? Roadblocks in exit points for the state, routine highway checks, etc? Is there 'anything' at all that can be done and how soon does the police abandon the search?

A: If there is nothing to go on then they would not set up any roadblocks (we almost never use these, they are unconstitutional) and we would just start interviewing people to try and get a description to work on.

You are more than welcome..

Cheers,
Tom