Are there remote places in the US where police force does not reach out, so the village members need to organize vigilantes themselves?

23 comments

1. Maybe up in like unincorporated Alaska? Other places it might take a long time for police to get to wherever the problem is but they still have jurisdiction.

2. There are some places not exactly like that but where it’s known that the nearest police station is an hour or so away so you need to protect yourself, thus many people in such areas having guns. Other areas police are known to not show up or come hours later so people in those areas tend to not call cops as often and do their own justice.

3. Not in any significant number at least.

   Even very remote places will generally have a local county sheriff’s department, though they may be much smaller and more distant than what you would be used to even in a moderately sized town. Even if it lacks that state police will have jurisdiction, or a federal service if you’re in a national park at the time, whatever.

   There are plenty of spaces where response times are long enough that if you’re in immediate danger they won’t get there in time to help most of the time, which may be what you’re hearing about, but they do have jurisdiction at would get there.

4. No. Every county in the nation has a sheriffs’ department and state police.

   Now, there are places that if you need help you’re going to wait quite a while. There’s a reason rural people tend to have firearms.

5. no, no one is doing village vigilante justice.

   even in the smallest small town, there is normal law enforcement that has jurisdiction. some people live so spread out in rural areas that they need a gun to protect themselves & probably have to plan for situations where emergency responders take longer to arrive. but crimes that are committed in rural areas are handled just like everywhere else, with normal police, courts, etc.

6. It might not be what you’re getting at specifically, but Colorado City, AZ is a “lawless” town in that the local law enforcement is ran exclusively by vigilantism (local cultists). The actual law doesn’t really get enforced there. There might be a single Sheriff’s deputy that covers the town but they don’t have a say in what goes down there.

   I don’t recommend sticking your nose around there if you don’t want to end up a target of the cult/wind up in a ditch out in the desert.

7. Maybe it’s Slab city? AFAIK it’s completely off grid, and it’s bring your own caravan. Looks to be a community of people looking for an alternative lifestyle, away from “normal” civilization

8. I grew up in a rural part of California, and some areas would have to wait quite a while if they needed the sheriff’s department to get to them. In a true emergency, however, a call would be put out to all the various law enforcement/fire departments for assistance. For example, US Forest Service has their own law enforcement and firefighters, as does CalFire. Same with local tribes.

9. Well supposing that those vigilantes form into a defined group of particular members supported by the community, well then you’ve got yourself a police force. Of course there are almost certainly more complicated laws around it, but there’s an element of US law that a tradition or community acceptance of something can effectively make it legitimate even if they didn’t go through the proper legal channels; like common law marriages or property easements. I could easily see that applying to a remote unofficial police force like this.

10. I think way more of a common emergency that locals in remote places will have to deal with is a medical emergency or an accident. In those places there will usually be a volunteer fire department or search and rescue.

11. Not really?

    Even in very remote places people are covered by some sort of law enforcement agency. For example, someone mentioned Alaska: if there’s a crime in a village off the road system the state police will usually have to fly in.

    This does mean that in places without a local safety officer people are effectively on their own until the police arrive, which can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on the weather. But there’s nowhere actually outside police authority.

12. Pretty much incorporated Alaska. Even in the most rural areas of the US, the vigilantism stops at home defense. It’s because the Sheriff and federal government can still perform their law enforcement duties. They’re just slower to act which is why there is greater emphasis on homeowners being able to defend themselves.

13. Police are local here in the US. Meaning it is the city/town/village that hire the police. So they do not “reach out” from some central State or Federal system.

    But to get what I think you are asking. There are towns small enough that they cannot afford a full time police department. When this occurs they will sometimes make deals to have a neighboring town/city supply police as needed, will be covered by county sheriffs, or so something akin to the communal policing you are talking about.

14. No.

    Even unincorporated communities like the one I live in are still located within counties and are thus under the jurisdiction of our county’s sheriff’s department. Law enforcement exists at multiple levels in the US. Living outside of a municipality means you have no *municipal* law enforcement, not *no* law enforcement. It takes a while for deputies to get out here, but they *do* get out here.

    And since every state in the US is…a state, the state police have jurisdiction no matter where you are in their state.

15. Nope, every single inch of American Clay is under one jurisdiction or another, and vigilantism is illegal on every square inch.

16. Well if the cops are crooked then yeah. Where my dad grew up it is all crooked. They come do the crime to you. You could try to fight back but they are the law. You’d really have to get some proof and show it to the fbi or a marshal or someone higher up.

17. There are places where it’ll take hours, days, or longer for law-enforcement to arrive when called; but there are no officially lawless places.

    There are also places where there are police, but they refuse to do their jobs and/or harass the law-abiding.

18. Let me guess…India?

19. Not really, but also sort of yes. Mainly in the very remote parts of Alaska, where you might have a Tribal Police Officer who isn’t 100% recognized by the government of Alaska.

    In the lower 48, no. No matter what, even in the west with their huge counties and remote populations, you’ll still find state-sanctioned county sheriffs. Even if those countries are the size of east coast states with small populations.

20. Alaska has villages without police forces, yes. I would say you get under about 800-1000 people and it’s hard to sustain any police force. For places on the road system, you can still patrol or respond with a State Trooper. The complication arises when you’re in Alaska’s river communities or island archipelagos.

    There are sometimes VPSOs but that’s not quite the same as a police officer or trooper. Not unqualified, just less training. Troopers can fly in for things like murder or rape investigations. Basic policing needs would be met by the VPSO. I know several villages with populations between 60-500 that have a VPSO or two. They may not have their own building and instead share offices with some other government function like the harbormaster’s office, fire station, or clerk’s office.

21. Non metro areas have sheriffs departments do all the work. In my experience they are more friendly and amicable. Sheriffs are not technically police and are elected at the county level but they serve the same purpose.

    Outside of Alaska and maybe somewhere in Wyoming the population density is usually high enough to justify sheriffs.

    I don’t know what reservations do. It may be the same or an entirely different system.

22. No but we do have volunteer firefighters in some small communities

23. Is this a good faith question? I’m not buying it. And “I heard that rumor from someone…is that true?” A more genuine question would have been: I see a lot of vigilantes on TV shows. Are they realistic? The answer is no. Stop basing your idea of the US on movies and TV.

    Let’s start here: what is a village in the US?

    But I’ll try to answer: I was born in a “village” in the Loess region of Iowa. No vigilantes. I grew up in the Borderlands in a tiny town (less than a hundred miles from the Mexican border). No vigilantes. I went to college and worked in a beautiful small town on the Californian coast. No vigilantes. We moved to the SE and lived in a wonderful city and spend months on the coast in small towns. No vigilantes. We moved back to the West, to the SW to a beautiful place in a small mountain valley. No vigilantes.

    Stop watching idiotic movies.