In california, some sheriff offices run the jails and have both correctional deputies and patrol deputies. LASO is like that. I looked into applying while in college and found out I'd have to work in the jail for 18 months iircBEFORE getting to work street patrol. That was enough for me to say "screw that". They MAY have different titles and even commissions when they work in the jail before hitting the street (like a limited commission). Not sure if that's case there or not. Other agencies have totally seperate career tracks. You can apply as a jailer/corrections deputy or as a street patrol deputy. They have different applications test/process, different commissions, different requirements, etc. Where I live up in WA, it's totally different. While the jail function HISTORICALLY has fallen upon the county sheriff, it does not work that way up here. the jails are run by (I live near Seattle) King County Jail, which is a county agency, but TOTALLY seperate from the sheriff office. the Sheriff's office here does not do any work inside the jai whatsoever. I am prettty sure that it is also the case in Pierce county.
Most Peace Officers I know , who actually work the street, etc. differentiate themselves from jailers, although in agencies where they switch back and forth, mebbe not so much. Here in WA, I am PRETTY sure that our jailers do not even have arrest powers while off duty, and only limited ones while on duty (like within the jail).
When I lived back in MA, the sheriff office served PURELY as jailers and served a civil function (subpoenas etc.) They did not do any sort of patrol whatsoever and MA has no unincorporated areas anyway. We did not consider the jailers to be "cops".
Jailers are unique vs. correctional officers. in that the former work with people MANY of whom have not been convicted of a crime. some are pre-trial detentions, etc and even stuff like witnesses (a witness on a material witness warrant gets arrested and placed in jail. I've written two MW warrants in my career. pretty rare)
That being said, I certainly hope IF the deputies are dirty, that they are exposed and punished proportionally to the offense(s) and if one or all are clean, I hope they are found not guilty and also exonerated. (not guilty doesn't mean innocent, but sometimes the DA will exonerate and refer to former defendants as INNOCENT a la the Duke lACROSSE "RAPE" TRIAL)
I don't want to work with corrupt officers, and I've testified before internal affairs on a prior occasion when I witnessed an act of excessive force. I can say that in my entire career, I have only witnessed one CLEAR cut act of excessive force by a coworker
i saw some that i did not agree with morally tactically and as an example of discretion, but they were w/in policy. the one i testified on, guy got 3 days, first offense and no problems since.
good officers can sometimes screw up vis a vis force. it doe4snt mean they are cruel or bullies UNLESS the excess is a pattern or an intentional decision
when local business people go to our citizen academy, that gives them a good scientific and realistic understanding of force ime.
most laypublic ime have a very distorted opinion of how often force is used on average etc. i posted an article the other day that showed that NYPD in 2010 had an ASTOUNDINGLY low use of deadly force, for instance. a few dozen shootings in a year, in a huge city, with 35k officers. basically one tenth of one percent were involved with using deadly force and that is a MUCH lower incidence than in the past. At points in the 70's, it was 5, 6 times as frequent. Granted crime was worse back then, but not THAT much worse. modern policing has made outstanding strides in improving in this area.
i've seen 5 guys in my dept. in the last few years get charged with assault. 4 were acquitted , correctly so imnsho
1 got a hung jury (twice) but imo should have been found guilty
good cops don't want to work with corrupt, cruel, cowardly or incompetent cops. Fortunately, ime they are few and far between.