There is some confusion... I looked at the brief filed by the sheriff and it seems that at one time the sheriffs of Delaware had police powers.
But the police powers were not removed under this particular sheriff's watch.
The state is claiming that arrest powers of the sheriff has been absent for decades!
That said I still contend that the undermining of a Sheriffs power, even if it happened decades ago, is not a good thing for freedom. But from the east coast we can expect no less!
I read Huffington post with a grain of salt, using it to get a grasp for the liberal viewpoint.
I looked into this a bit more, and the Sheriff's haven't been making arrests since the 1970s. They actually gave way to local mucipalities to conduct law enforcement.
That said, it's unfair to say the sheriff has been "stripped," from using a power they voluntarily gave up decades ago.
Should an elected sheriff have department that has deputies with arrest powers? Sure, it makes sense, but in this particular case, this seems more like a guy who want more power, than a guy who's looking out for public interest.
If the Sussex Co Sheriff's Department has 6/7 deputies, what is he actually seeking to do? What are 6 or 7 guys going to do serving over 200,000 people? To effectively police the area, there is going to be a massive bill attached to increasing the force.... or he's going to want to be named over a number of existing LE agencies, which I assure you, will lead to a lengthy and costly legal battle. Delaware sheriffs, are pretty much glorified servers of legal paperwork, so I imagine that not many people pay attention to during the elections.
If by chance, they are found to have arrest powers, there should be an immediate emergency election, so that people could put into place the person who they think is best for the job as "Top Cop." I'm willing to bet the "current" sherrif wouldn't exactly like that idea.