by TChris

There's a new Sheriff in town. Victor Hill was just elected to the post in Clayton County, Georgia, and he's bringing a bit of paranoia with him.

He adds a dimension to the definition of messiah complex; on his first day in office, he abruptly fired more than two dozen employees and posted snipers on the roof of the sheriff's department to make sure none objected too strenuously as they were escorted from the building.

In addition to the snipers, Hill insists on having armed guards at his home and office. He thinks he might be the target of assassins -- a strange fear for a man only recently elected to his job.

Fortunately, a judge ordered Hill to reinstate the fired employees, but the bizarre incident raises a larger question about the usefulness of sheriffs in urban society.

Hill's despotism helps make the case that metropolitan counties have no need for sheriff's offices. They waste taxpayer funds; they duplicate services; and, all too frequently, they give a badge and a gun to people who should have neither.