US Marshal is the federal marshal service of the United States, the second federal institution founded in that state. Marshals enforce authority on the frontier and introduce themselves with the formula “I’m a US Marshal.”
| Type | Federal law-enforcement body |
| Country | United States |
| Strength | 95 sworn Marshals; 3,600 Deputy Marshals |
| Spanish entry | US Marshal |
Organization
The body is counted and closed: ninety-five sworn U.S. Marshals and three thousand six hundred U.S. Deputy Marshals, with an intermediate rank of Assistant Marshals whose number is not recorded. The hierarchy runs Deputy Marshal, Assistant Marshal, sworn Marshal. At every grade the office is proved the same way: it is declared, the star is shown and the papers are presented.
Equipment
A Marshal carries “a star, a shotgun, everything”. The badge is “a rank like this, black, medium, with a US Marshal thing” on it. The outfit includes “his little cap” and “papers that justified him as US Marshal”, plus printed posters of “the lost children, with reward”. The shotgun is standard equipment. The whole set can be taken from a Marshal by a third party, who thereby gains the appearance of the office.
Duties
- Border control: Marshals issue orders not to cross, and these are obeyed: “we are going to respect the Marshals’ order”.
- Witness protection programs.
- Searches for people, through the lost-children reward posters.
Open questions
- Which institution was the first federal one; what territory the border covers and what lies beyond it.
- Whether Deputies and sworn Marshals wear the same star; the uniform beyond the cap.
- What reward is paid for a lost child and by whom; how one joins and who swears in the ninety-five.
- What penalty attaches to wearing a stolen office.