[FireBeyond]

My father worked for the Sheriff's Office in Australia, maybe 25 years ago. It should be noted that there, the Sheriff's Office is not a police department, but something in between the Marshal Service and a process server.

My father's boss was the Sheriff for the state. Australian law still had two capital crimes (I don't know if they are, currently): high treason, and piracy on the high seas.

Not exactly common crimes, to be sure.

But under law, if someone had been convicted of one, my father's boss would have to either have overseen the execution (by hanging, and somewhere in the bowels of his offices was the equipment), if not conducted it himself.

He was very vocal that the minute someone even stood trial for one of those crimes, he was resigning his commission, to avoid any chance of that.