Marianne,
Re your comment below:
> Well, he isn't exactly a policeman yet (his
status
> is the one thing
> in the book that I don't really understand),
much
> less a DI, but
> would Silent Joe count? I'm just re-reading it,
as
> it happens. Good
> book.
Doesn't count; SLIENT JOE's a police procedural. Re Joe's
status: In California (and, in fact, in most of the US),
County Sheriff's Departments have four separate
responsiblities. First is providing basic police serive to
the unincorprated parts of the county, as well as to any
incorporated municipalities that don't have their own police
force and have contracted with the sheriff's office to handle
law enforcement in their town. Second is running the county
jail. Third is providing security to the courts (bailiffs,
the cops who stand guard in court, are deputy sheriffs).
Fourth is the serving of civil processes.
Many sehriff's offices have separate positions for these
functions, but many others (including, presumably, the Orange
County Sheriff's Office) hire one single "generalist" deputy
who may be assigned to any of those functions. Since jail is
generally the least popular duty, the least senior deputies,
like Joe, get assigned there first and may spend several
years as a jailer before getting assigned to patrol
(i.e. "real" police work). Joe was legally a cop, but since
he was still serving out his allotted assignment as a jailer,
he didn't "feel" like a real cop.
JIM DOHERTY
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