In the old Westerns, sheriffs didn’t have to contend with anything resembling a bureaucracy. The sheriff was a county’s top lawman.
Maybe that’s the way it was, but not anymore.
At a recent sheriff candidates forum, San Miguel County Sheriff Benjie Vigil told the audience that his deputies would start carrying Tasers in June. Never mind the County Commission’s opinion.
Of course, the sheriff still has latitude in how he runs his department. But the County Commission indisputably holds the purse strings.