Yes, sheriffs/county control the county and the municipalities within them.Savannah sits within chatham county.. City police are officers hired by the city Government and have LESS jurisdiction compared to a sheriff's deputy, and even less compared to the state police officer. From 2005 until 2017, Chatham and Savannah were the same departments.

In fact, Chatham county has a Sheriffs department, A county Police department, and savannah city police, all which have jurisdiction within the city of savannah.

But like in most metros where there is county police, the sheriff's office is left to enforcing warrants, courthouses, and different kinds of task forces like drug interdiction, etc. While the county police are left to traffic duties and typical 911 calls.