That's got to be a lie. The discussion was about responding officers to shoplifting cases, no where bigger than Mayberry would that be the top dog sheriff. I wasn't shifting anything, the discussion was on responding officers and how much it costs to have an officer respond compared to the revenue of the ensuing fine.
Maybe in Fairfax only the top guy gets to be sheriff. Out west usually all uniformed representatives of the Sheriffs office are sheriffs.
I'm sure other officers also perform arrests that create work for the court system.
It's a thousand year old tradition. In fact, many state constitutions provide for the office ~ one sheriff, one county.
A "deputy" you see riding around in a car marked "Sheriff" isn't a "sheriff" ~ he is a "deputy sheriff", but we know who "owns" the car eh?!