Local Law Enforcement Not So Politically Divided After All?

Does local law enforcement vary by partisan politics? A new study examines this question through sheriff cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Using a regression discontinuity design on data from over 3,200 partisan elections and records of actual sheriff actions reveals surprising results: Democrat and Republican sheriffs show similar compliance rates despite being elected differently. This suggests law enforcement decisions aren't strongly driven by partisanship when officers have broad authority.

The findings challenge assumptions about politically charged local policy making. An unexpected twist is that these law enforcement officials actually share more aligned views on immigration enforcement than the general public does across party lines.

This result highlights crucial processes in candidate selection:

• Sheriff races don't appear to drive sharp partisan differences in certain discretionary functions
• Electing different parties doesn't fundamentally alter core operational choices regarding federal requests for detainers
• Partisan divergence may be less pronounced at this specific local level than previously believed