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County
County law enforcement is provided by sheriffs' departments or offices and county police.

County police
County police tend to exist only in metropolitan counties and have countywide jurisdiction. Places that have both county police and county sheriff, responsibilities are given to each. The county police is in charge of typical police duties such as, patrol and investigations. Whereas the sheriffs' department in this situation takes care of serving papers and providing security to the courts. County police tend to fall into three broad categories, full service, limited service, and restrictive service. Full service provides full police services to the entire county. Limited service provide to the unincorporated and special districts. Restricted service provide security to the county owned parts of the county.

The Commonwealth of Virginia does not have overlapping County and City jurisdictions, whereas in the other 49 states most municipalities fall within (and share jurisdiction and many other governmental responsibilities with) a County. In Virginia, governmental power flows down from the State (or in Virginia's case, Commonwealth) directly to either a County or an Independent City. Thus, policing in Virginia is more streamlined: the County Sheriff's Office/Department or County Police Department does not overlap with an Independent City Police Department. Unincorporated Townships remain part of their parent County, but may have Town Police Departments to augment their County law enforcement. Town Police Departments are often small, and may deploy a combination of paid and nonpaid, full and part-time law enforcement officers, including auxiliary officers who typically serve as part-time, unpaid volunteers. If present, Independent City Sheriff's Offices usually follow the Restrictive model shown below for Sheriff's Departments, with limited law enforcement authority including warrant service, jail bailiff, etc. Mutual assistance compacts may exist where neighboring law enforcement agencies will assist each other, however, in addition to State (Commonwealth) law enforcement resources.

Sheriffs' offices
Sheriffs are not police and have many different responsibilities. Sheriff's are elected officials where the head of police is appointed, or hired in. Sheriffs are responsible for all three parts of the criminal justice system. They uphold the county jail, ensure safety within the courts, and have jurisdiction to enforce laws in the entire county. They have more responsibilities such as, transporting prisoners, running crime labs, and collecting taxes.