[dragoon500ly]

While the SSS serves the function of a Federal/State Police, the courts of the Free State appoints a sheriff per county who, in turn, appoints as many deputies as he believes he needs. The Sheriff is responsible for the enforcement of the laws of the Free States as he sees fit, subject to review by the Judge who appointed him. In the normal course of things, a Sheriff can only be removed from office by the Judge who appointed him.

If this seems like a formula tailor made for corruption, that's because it is. Sheriffs and deputies are expected to be corrupt, as are judges. Such offices are routinely bought and sold. The extent of such things is expected to be kept within reasonable limits, but Sheriffs and Judges always retire with a comfortable nest egg, and as long as order is kept, the Committee of Five does't care how order is kept. The only compensation in this system is that it has eliminated long prison terms. The concept of justice in the Free State is not so much ignored, as assaulted.

The various Committee of Public Safety governing the cities/towns/villages of the Free State use a similar system in selecting their Chiefs of Police. These local police departments have jurisdiction only within the limits of their towns, otherwise the Sheriff has authority.

Gun control in the Free state is a very serious matter. Licenses are required in order to own any weapon. Only the wealthiest of Citizens can afford brass cartridge firearms, although it is taken as a matter of course that any Executive can own and carry any weapon he or she pleases. At one time, the Free State even attempted to ban even black powder weapons, but cross-border raiders were then able to attack with impunity, destroying entire villages before Social Security Forces could arrive. So much damage was done that black powder weapons were made legal for Seconds and Thirds to own. Indeed, so survive is the problem today, that anyone living within forty miles of the borders are required to own at least one black powder rifle.