Marshal - Law Enforcement - United States - State and Local Marshals

State and Local Marshals

• In many American States marshals could be found acting at the state, local or municipal court level, marshals could be court bailiffs and/or serving process or even full police officers. Although some may be sworn peace officers their job is, in certain cases entirely civil rather than criminal law enforcement. Some communities maintain a Town Marshal who is responsible for general law enforcement as well as court duties, while others are strictly court officers. This is especially true in communities with both police and marshals.
  • In the American Old West (example, Arizona Territory of the 1880s), marshals, usually called the "Town Marshal", or "City Marshal" (since the larger cities were often punctilious about their titles) were appointed or elected police officers of small communities, with similar powers and duties to that of a police chief, generally with powers ending at the border of the community. By contrast, federal marshals (U.S. marshals) would work in a larger, possibly overlapping area, especially in pioneering country, in an area overlapping with the state or territorial office of county sheriff (who then, as now, policed communities as well as areas between communities). The word is still used in this sense, especially in the Southwest United States. (See List of Western lawmen). Town or City Marshal is still the name for the head officer of some community police forces.
  • In Arizona cities, towns and villages decide whether to appoint or elect a Marshal, or have the board/council/city manager hire a Chief of Police as the top criminal law enforcement for their jurisdiction (like in the Town of Tombstone). Marshals are elected by the trustees to serve a fixed term, and chiefs of police can be fired at will by whoever hired them just like any other employee.
  • In California, several urban counties (including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego) once maintained separate county Marshal's Offices which served as court officers similar to US Marshals, but mainly for the Municipal Court system (this system was abolished by state law in 2000, when the sheriffs of those counties announced that those counties' marshals would be absorbed into their departments), thus, many have been merged into or taken over by the local County Sheriff's Office, with the exceptions of San Benito County, well south of the San Francisco Bay Area, Shasta County and Trinity County both located in Northern California. California also has Fire Marshals and Deputy Fire Marshals. These individuals may work for the State of California Fire Marshal's Office, or various county, city or special districts throughout the state. Fire Marshals and Deputy Fire Marshals are full-time sworn peace officers throughout the state, with powers of arrest state wide under section 830.37 of the California Penal Code. Responsibilities include fire and arson investigation, bomb and explosives investigation, general law enforcement as well as enforcement of the Fire Code.
  • In Colorado Cities, towns and villages decide whether to appoint or elect a Marshal, or have the board/council/city manager hire a Chief of Police as the top criminal law enforcement for their jurisdiction. Marshals are elected by the trustees to serve a fixed term, and chiefs of police can be fired at will by whoever hired them just like any other employee.
  • In Connecticut, marshals serve as court officers and replaced county sheriff's in Connecticut in the year 2000. They are separated into two classes: State Marshals are charged with service of process, and Judicial Marshals perform court security and transport detainees to and from court.
  • In Georgia, the Marshal is a civil law enforcement officer in some counties and may have some patrol duties.
  • In Indiana, many small towns still utilize the Town Marshal system. There, Marshals are responsible for law enforcement in a town. His usual duties are the enforcement of local and state ordinances and code enforcement. He may also be the town's humane officer. Town Marshals have general law enforcement authority throughout the state, therefore it is not at all uncommon for town marshals to be seen outside of their town's jurisdiction assisting other police agencies. Some town marshal agencies in Indiana can be quite large, with up to three paid officers under the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board's town marshal basic training system. Any town marshal can appoint any number of unpaid deputy town marshals/reserve officers who may exercise full police powers in the state. Under Indiana Code IC36-5-7 the marshal is described as "the chief police officer of the town and has the powers of other law enforcement officers in executing the orders of the legislative body and enforcing laws. The marshal or his deputy:
    1. shall serve all process directed to him by the town court or legislative body;
    2. shall arrest without process all persons who commit an offense within his view, take them before a court having jurisdiction, and detain them in custody until the cause of the arrest has been investigated;
    3. shall suppress breaches of the peace;
    4. may, if necessary, call the power of the town to his aid;
    5. may execute search warrants and arrest warrants; and
    6. may pursue and jail persons who commit an offense.
  • In Maine the State Marshal Service provides physical security and law enforcement duties to the judicial system as well as protection of all state judges. Deputy Marshals are fully sworn state law enforcement officers with statewide authority.
  • In Missouri, there are two types of Marshal:
    • State Marshals provides physical security and law enforcement duties to the judicial system as well as protection of all state judges. Deputy Marshals are fully sworn state law enforcement officers with statewide authority.
    • City Marshals, at the local level in the State of Missouri, are elected Chief Law Enforcement Officers of the city. They have the same police powers as a regular Police Officer within the City limits of their city. The amount of training to be a city Marshal is far less than a regular municipal police officer, as such a Marshal's jurisdiction is strictly limited to the city limits of the city they are elected from. Even if they witness a violation of the Law in their city, they can not pursue a person if they flee beyond the city limits. The position of City Marshal is rare in the State of Missouri and is only found in very small rural cities that do not have the budget to maintain a Police Department.
  • In New York, there are two levels of marshals:
    • City Marshals, are elected Chief Law Enforcement Officers of a city or town. They have the same police powers as a regular Police Officer within the City limits of their city. The amount of training to be a city Marshal is far less than a regular municipal police officer, as such a Marshal's jurisdiction is strictly limited to the city limits of the city they are elected from. Even if they witness a violation of the Law in their city, they can not pursue a person if they flee beyond the city limits. The position of City Marshal is rare in the State of New York and is now only found in very small rural cities that do not have the budget to maintain a Police Department.
    • New York City Marshals are appointed by the Mayor of New York City to 5-year terms, but receive no salary from the city. Instead, the By law, no more than 83 City Marshals shall be appointed by a mayor. Marshals primarily enforce orders from Civil Court cases, including collecting on judgments, towing, seizing utility meters and carrying out evictions. Marshals collectively perform approximately 25,000 evictions per year. Marshals are regulated by the NYC Department of Investigation but, unlike the City Sheriff, they are not City employees. Marshals collect fees, which are set by statute, from the private litigants whose judgments they enforce, and they also retain five percent of any money they collect on judgments. City marshals may, depending on the court order brought to them by the winning litigant, seize money, moveable property (for instance, inventory from a business), vehicles (as is the case with unpaid parking tickets) and return possession of rental premises to the landlord, (also known as eviction), and so on. On an annual basis City Marshals must pay the City of New York $1,500 plus 4.5 percent of the fees he receives for collecting judgments.
  • In Ohio, the term village marshal has been used for the same, often without any colleague, directly under the Mayor.
  • In Texas, city marshals and deputy city marshals have, by law, the same authority as a municipal (village, town, or city) police officer. However, municipalities (like Fort Worth) that have both a police force as well as a city marshal's office often utilize the police as the general law enforcement agency of the municipality, while court security and process service is provided by the city marshal's office. In municipalities that do not have a police department, the city marshal's office sometimes serves as the agency that provides general law enforcement services to residents.
  • In Virginia, H.E.A.R.T. Marshals, with the Hampton Emergency AMBER Response Team, volunteer to respond to AMBER alerts in the City of Hampton.
  • In Washington, the City of Seattle employs Marshals in their Municipal Court, with the senior officer holding the title of Chief Marshal and the subordinate officers being Deputy Marshals. The King County Sheriff's Office (County Seat: Seattle) also employs Court Marshals, which is a unit under the Sheriff's Office. * Answers.com Marshal In the Old-West themed town of Winthrop,_WA, the municipal police force is headed by a town Marshal, consistent with the old west restoration of the buildings and tourist attractions.