Madison County Sheriff's Office (Mississippi)
The Madison County Sheriff's Department provides the primary law enforcement service for approximately 800 square miles (2,100 km2) of Madison County, Mississippi. The Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction county wide; however, the municipalities of Canton, Flora, Madison and Ridgeland provide the primary law enforcement inside their respective city limits. The Patrol Division provides patrol of the county 24 hour 7 days a week.
Mississippi state law through the Law Enforcement Board of Minimum Standards dictates the minimum level of training for certified law enforcement officers. Before assuming a sworn deputy position, each officer must be State Certified by a certified law enforcement academy. They gladly comply with this practice for the safety of our deputies as well as our citizens. In addition, they make every attempt to send officers for training in specific areas that will aid law enforcement in Madison County.
The Patrol Division of the Madison County Sheriff's Department is the backbone of all our efforts. It is the patrol deputy who most often is the first on the scene when one calls for help. The patrol deputy gathers the preliminary information that investigators use when working a crime. Often it is street level information obtained by patrol that leads the narcotics officers to drug dealers. It is the patrol deputy who brings offenders to the detention center. Most other divisions rely heavily on the patrol to be effective in their assignments.
Patrol deputes are who one sees in his or her neighborhood. They patrol and answer calls for services which may include vehicle accidents, reports of crime or criminal activity, domestic violence, missing persons, suspicious activity, and any calls for assistance from citizens.
The Department, namely Sheriff Randy Tucker and his deputies. is subject to a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging to practices of excessive force, racial profiling and unconstitutional practices including forcing confessions. The ALCU also alleges that blacks are 5 times more likely to be stopped and arrested than whites in the county, despite having a similar population. Sheriff Tucker has denied these allegations, but as of May 2017, the lawsuit is ongoing in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi.[1][2]