I recently completed a new paper on contracts between cities and sheriffs for law enforcement services. It is available here.
Dozens of North Carolina municipalities have decided not to operate their own police departments, and instead have entered into contracts with their local sheriffs’ offices for designated levels of law enforcement services. There are plusses and minuses to such arrangements, which the paper details. It also notes some of the terms that parties considering such contracts may wish to include, and discusses the formalities required for each side to enter into such agreements.