Sheriff of the Arab Union
The Sheriff of the Union of Arab Republics (Arabic: شريف اتحاد الجمهوريات العربية sharīf ittiḥād al-jumhūriyāt al-arabīyah) is the highest-ranking member and executive leader of the Arab Union Sheriff Service, the primary and largest federal law enforcement agency of the Arab Union, formally the Union of Arab Republics (UAR). The Sheriff of the Arab Union is appointed by the President of the Arab Union on advice of the Attorney General, and is a member of the Presidential Executive Council. While other agencies like the Joint Security Committee have federal law enforcement authority, such authority is limited to national security and high-profile investigations; in fact, according to the 1999 constitution, the Sheriff of the Arab Union is the most senior law enforcement official at the federal level.
The Sheriff of the Arab Union is supported by the Undersheriff (العمداء al-‘amdā’), whom the Sheriff of the Arab Union appoints and to whom many of the Sheriff's routine responsibilities are delegated, allowing more time for the Sheriff of the Arab Union to focus on objectives and attend official meetings and events. According to the constitution, in the event of the death or incapacitation of the Sheriff of the Arab Union, the Undersheriff becomes Acting Sheriff of the Arab Union until the recovery of the incumbent Sheriff or the appointment of a new Sheriff by the President of the Arab Union. The incumbent Sheriff of the Arab Union since is Rifaf Jarallah, in office since January 2016.
Personnel subordinate to the Sheriff and Undersheriff are known as (sheriff's) deputies (نواب nawāb; sg. نائب nā’ib). The Arabic word for "officer" (ضابط ḍābiṭ) is only used to refer to National Police or Nasser City Police Service constables as well as correctional officers, with commissioned law enforcement personnel of the Sheriff Service always referred to as deputies (with the exception of the Sheriff and Undersheriff). The Undersheriff is literally the immediate deputy of the Sheriff of the Arab Union, but is never referred to by this term.
