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County sheriffs wield lethal power, face little accountability: “A failure of democracy”
Watch the CBS Reports documentary “King of the County: The Power of Sheriffs” in the video player above.
County sheriff’s officers are three times more lethal than city police, a CBS News investigation has found.
More people were killed by U.S. law enforcement in 2023 than any other year in the past decade, outpacing population growth eightfold. But despite a focus on urban areas, fatal police violence is increasingly happening in small town America at the hands of sheriffs, the top law enforcement officials in counties nationwide.
The revelation is part of the findings of a yearlong reporting effort that documented chronic misconduct in sheriff’s offices and oversight failures that can enable abuses to go unchecked. The consequences can be fatal. But the majority of those cases go unreported, in violation of state and federal laws, making patterns of abuse harder to detect and stop.
CBS News gathered and analyzed federal law enforcement data that showed while more people died overall in encounters with city police, deaths in encounters with county sheriffs occurred at a significantly higher rate. For every 100,000 people arrested, more than 27 people died in the custody of sheriffs, while that number was fewer than 10 for police officers in 2022, the most recent year of available data.
“We should be scrutinizing sheriff’s offices as much as we are police departments,” said Chiraag Bains, a former civil rights prosecutor who served as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council until 2023. “They don’t get enough scrutiny.”
The problem is getting worse. Sheriffs’ officers are twice as deadly as they were a decade ago, according to a CBS News analysis of FBI data, and increasingly, they are taking on a larger role in policing American towns, since small police departments have been shutting down and ceding their responsibilities to county sheriffs.
A dozen sheriffs interviewed by CBS News said they hold themselves to a high standard. But some acknowledged that there is little is in place to hold them accountable if they don’t. Many attribute that to their unique status as independently elected officials who are, nonetheless, empowered with the discretion to take away a person’s life or liberty.
“It’s serious business. Not everybody can do this job nor should be able to do the job,” said David Mahoney, former sheriff of Dane County, Wisconsin, who served as president of the National Sheriffs Association from 2020 to 2021. While laws and policies vary state to state, Mahoney said that in most places, “even if convicted of a crime, [sheriffs] will continue to hold office” unless they choose to resign of their own volition or are forcibly removed.
According to CBS News’ investigation, problems were more prevalent in smaller, more remote communities where deputies typically had less training, fewer resources and limited oversight. These factors allowed sheriff misconduct to continue for longer, becoming more severe and brazen before it was discovered. Even then, they rarely faced consequences.
In McCurtain County, Oklahoma, Sheriff Kevin Clardy was caught on audiotape in March of 2023 talking with other county leaders about how they might kill and discreetly bury the bodies of two local journalists who had written stories about alleged corruption inside his office, among others.
CBS News subsequently uncovered that residents had been making allegations of misconduct for years, ranging from financial improprieties to excessive force and neglect of duty. An attorney for Sheriff Clardy declined to respond to questions from CBS News but denied the allegations made in five civil rights lawsuits that are ongoing in federal court.
Interviews with law enforcement insiders combined with an original analysis of police data and court records revealed that three-quarters of reported crimes went unsolved in McCurtain County last year and some apparently suspicious deaths were never investigated or reported by the sheriff’s office to independent officials — a violation of state and federal laws.
But even after a viral news scandal, a paper trail of alleged violations with audio and video evidence, and calls from the governor to resign, Sheriff Clardy remains in power today.
“Nothing has happened to them,” said McCurtain Gazette reporter Chris Willingham. He and his father Bruce were the journalists whose murders the sheriff and others were heard contemplating. “They have to feel untouchable, they’re above the law.”
Meanwhile, some who consider themselves victims of the sheriff’s office have fled town, saying they fear for their safety.
Over a 40-year period, people died in law enforcement custody at a higher rate in Oklahoma than in any other state, and in 84% of those deaths, officers or deputies didn’t report their use of lethal force, according to a study published in The Lancet.
State and federal laws require that police report every time they use fatal force — but most of the time, they don’t. An audit by the Government Accountability Office found that 70% of states failed to meet their reporting requirements in fiscal year 2021 and cautioned that was likely an undercount. According to reports by congressional investigators, government auditors and the Justice Department itself, the Death in Custody Reporting Act is not enforced.
“Americans are needlessly dying and are being killed while in the custody of their own government,” Georgia Sen. Jon Ossof told a Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs hearing on Sept. 20, 2022. He referred to the state of local jails — the vast majority of which are overseen by sheriffs — as an “unconscionable” crisis.
Examples of sheriff misconduct are not unique to McCurtain County, or Oklahoma. CBS News documented reports of alleged misconduct or criminal activity by sheriff’s offices in 46 states just since 2020.
In recent convictions: A South Carolina sheriff and deputies arrested a man under false pretenses, stole from the county then falsified records to cover it up. A Georgia sheriff abused pretrial detainees. A “Goon Squad” of white Mississippi sheriff deputies tortured Black men. A Nebraska sheriff deputy ran a multimillion dollar fraud scheme. A Northern California sheriff accepted bribes to grant gun permits to political donors. There are also ongoing cases that involve charges ranging from excessive force to unlawful restraint and sexual assault, gang activity, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and harrassing a racial minority in order to drive them out of the county. The list goes on with countless other allegations, like in McCurtain County, that have not been charged.
An estimated 72% of the U.S. is rural, where more than 3,000 sheriffs act as the primary law enforcement. Only Alaska and Connecticut don’t have any sheriffs; the latter abolished the position two decades ago due to high-profile corruption scandals.
What it takes to qualify for the job of sheriff varies from state to state: some require law enforcement experience, while others allow any U.S. citizen over age 18 to wear the star. The vast majority of sheriffs are elected, making voters the ultimate check on their authority. But candidates frequently run unopposed and it’s not uncommon for a sheriff to remain in power for decades.
Forcible removal is rare and elections have historically proven to be an unreliable check on misconduct when the abuse is targeted at minority communities, which Bains described as “a failure of democracy.”
“The federal government exists, its authority exists for that reason. It can come from the outside and exercise independent scrutiny and judgment,” he said, adding that the FBI and Justice Department take these allegations very seriously. “It’s not just a situation of bad apples; there are systems that need attention as well.”
Thirty years ago, Congress empowered the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate not just individual cases but for repeated patterns or practice of civil rights violations. But with approximately 18,000 local law enforcement agencies to oversee, today the DOJ has only a few dozen people on staff with the expertise to conduct lengthy, labor-intensive oversight investigations.
Since 1994, DOJ has only filed seven cases against sheriff’s offices for what are called “pattern or practice” civil rights violations. The Trump administration did not bring a single case. The Biden administration has filed just one.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
~Sarah Metz contributed reporting.
Despite losing his boxing match to Jake Paul, Mike Tyson in a social media post Saturday said he had “no regrets” to getting “in ring one last time.”
The boxing legend was defeated by social media star Jake Paul in a highly anticipated fight on Friday night with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders.
Netflix said Saturday that 60 million households worldwide tuned in to watch the match. The two fighters went eight full rounds, with each round two minutes long. Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision and the 27-year-old upset boxer and 58-year-old former heavyweight champion hugged afterward.
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, and Tyson was expected to take around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
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Tyson said on his social media that “this is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night.”
The fight almost didn’t happen after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up while on a plane in March. He addressed his illness Saturday, writing that he “almost died in June.” He said he had eight blood transfusions and “lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 after a 20-year career. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“To have my children see me stand toe to toe and finish 8 rounds with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy stadium is an experience that no man has the right to ask for. Thank you,” he said.
Alex Sundby and
contributed to this report.
In their final meeting, China’s leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Biden that his nation was “ready to work with a new administration,” as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take over.
The two leaders gathered Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Mr. Biden was expected to urge Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. It marked their first in-person meeting since they met in Northern California last November.
Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the U.S.-China relationship into another valley.
“China is ready to work with a new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.
LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, spoke in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship has gone and reflected not just on the past four years, but on their long relationship.
“Over the past four years, China-U.S. relations have experienced ups and downs, but with the two of us at the helm, we have also engaged in fruitful dialogues and cooperation, and generally achieved stability,” he said.
Mr. Biden and Xi, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at Lima’s Defines Hotel and Conference Center.
There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the U.S.-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.
Bobby Djavaheri, president of Los Angeles-based Yedi Houseware Appliances — which manufactures its products in China — told CBS News in an interview this week that such tariffs “would decimate our business, but not only our business. It would decimate all small businesses that rely on importing.”
Trump has also proposed revoking China’s Most Favored Nation trade status, phasing out all imports of essential goods from China and banning China from buying U.S. farmland.
Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden administration officials will advise the Trump team that managing the intense competition with Beijing will likely be the most significant foreign policy challenge they will face.
It’s a big moment for Mr. Biden as he wraps up more than 50 years in politics. He saw his relationship with Xi as among the most consequential on the international stage and put much effort into cultivating that relationship.
Mr. Biden and Xi first got to know each other on travels across the U.S. and China when both were vice presidents, interactions that both have said left a lasting impression.
“For over a decade, you and I have spent many hours together, both here and in China and in between. And I think we’ve spent a long time dealing with these issues,” Mr. Biden said Saturday.
But the last four years have presented a steady stream of difficult moments.
The FBI this week offered new details of a federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks. The initial findings have revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics.
U.S. intelligence officials also have assessed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine.
And tensions flared last year after Mr. Biden ordered the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.
CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Trump also said in a statement Saturday that Wright will serve on the newly-created National Energy Council, which will be chaired by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s selection for secretary of the Interior.
Burgum will oversee a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a previous statement.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Wright also has criticized what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.”
Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term.
Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.
The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. The agency is in charge of maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, oversees 17 national research laboratories and approves natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. It also promotes scientific and technological research.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.
“He’s s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary (of energy) who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said of Wright, adding: “Wright will help ensure America remains committed to an all-of-the-above energy policy that puts American families first.”
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for Energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.
Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.
