In Georgia's big urban counties, there are few government jobs more useless — few more exemplary of bureaucratic inefficiency and waste — than the position of sheriff. Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton all have professional county police departments to carry out the usual duties associated with public safety. In those counties, sheriffs are paid, mostly, to run the county jail and deliver warrants, duties that could easily be merged with county police departments.

But the sheriff's post is a constitutionally mandated position, and abolishing it would require legislation from the Georgia Legislature, as well as an amendment to the state constitution. That's about as likely to happen as a July ice storm, since the politically powerful Georgia Sheriffs' Association goes into overdrive to stop it from happening.

(ENLARGE)

Ted Jackson.

(ENLARGE)

Tom Brown.

(ENLARGE)

Kem Kimbrough.

Given that the metro area will be stuck with sheriffs for the foreseeable future, the following candidates offer the best hope for keeping their respective jails free of corruption, political infighting and outright incompetence.

DeKalb County Sheriff

In DeKalb County, incumbent Tom Brown is a highly respected law enforcement official who has kept his jail running smoothly for years. Indeed, Brown's excellent record won him the unenviable task of keeping Brian Nichols — accused of killing four people, including a Fulton County judge, in March 2005 — under lock and key. Since Nichols was delivered to the DeKalb jail, he has lost the ability to maintain outside contacts who might help him escape.

Brown deserves re-election.

Clayton County Sheriff

In Clayton County, Kem Kimbrough, a graduate of Morehouse College and Emory University School of Law, stands out in a field of well-qualified and earnest challengers to Sheriff Victor Hill. Among his goals is improving department training and community involvement and making the serving of criminal warrants the top priority. The professional Kimbrough, who currently works for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, offers something else that the current sheriff lacks — a grip on reality.

When Hill took office four years ago, he also took leave of his senses. In less than 24 hours on the job, the former homicide detective revealed himself to be a megalomaniac and a crackpot. After firing more than two dozen deputies, including longtime veterans, Hill had them escorted from the jailhouse property under the watch of rooftop snipers.

That stupid and dangerous display of machismo set the tone for the next year. It also ended up costing Clayton County taxpayers $6.5 million in court settlements last year after a judge ruled Hill's theatrics were illegal.

Indifferent to the financial mayhem he's causing, Hill is busy empire-building. He wants jail deputies to investigate crime and attempted to bar Clayton County police officers from interviewing inmates held in jail.

Hill has nothing to sell voters except four more years of expensive litigation and foolish preening.

Fulton County Sheriff

In Fulton County, the hapless incumbent, Myron Freeman, also needs to be replaced, but for different reasons. Freeman is no ego-driven tyrant. He is mild-mannered and even-tempered. Unfortunately, he's also incompetent.

Indeed, Nichols is now housed at the DeKalb County Jail because Freeman could not keep him under control. Under Freeman's watch, Nichols somehow managed to get access to cellphones, which are forbidden, and was plotting an escape.

And that was the least of Freeman's troubles. Nichols' alleged killing spree, which took place shortly after Freeman's election, was the result of missteps by Fulton deputies, who allowed Nichols to escape the courthouse, where he was on trial on rape charges. Since then, the jail has improved very little, with continued lapses in security, including the erroneous release of inmates. (Conversely, some inmates have been held long after they should have been released.) Freeman has even butted heads with a federal judge who ordered improved conditions.

In the field of candidates running to oust Freeman, two men stand out. Retired East Point Police Chief Frank Brown brings a long and credible history in law enforcement. He would be a big improvement over Freeman.

But retired FBI agent Ted Jackson has a slight advantage over Brown; Jackson has actually run the Fulton County Jail. When former Fulton Sheriff Jackie Barrett stepped down as a result of controversy in July 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Jackson as interim sheriff, a position he held for five months. He wasn't able to clean up the jail's operations during that period, but he was credited with restoring morale. He would undoubtedly do much more with a full four-year term.

—Maureen Downey and Cynthia Tucker, for the editorial board