John Oliver covered a lot in his latest episode of Last Week Tonight, from the Disney-owned streaming platform Hotstar censoring his show in India, to the Trump administration’s misinformation about the coronavirus, but his main topic of discussion was something a little more under the radar: Local sheriff elections.
Oliver says, “When you hear the word ‘sheriff,’ most of us have two immediate associations. One, Western lawmen who handle cattle rustling and other livestock related crimes. And two, Joe Arpaio, the infamously anti-immigrant sheriff,” who also once gave a bizarre press conference about arresting a man who tried to have sex with an undercover agent’s horse.
The roughly 3,000 sheriffs nationwide “run law enforcement on a county level,” and in areas without a police department, they are the only law enforcement. But many people do not know who their local sheriffs are, which can sometimes be troubling since they often run unopposed during elections and can wield a lot of power.
Watch the segment below and see Above the Law actor Steven Seagal make a surprise appearance.