In New York, there are two levels of marshals:
City Marshals, are the elected chief law enforcement officers of a city or town. They have the same police powers as a regular police officer within the city limits. The amount of training to be a City Marshal is far less than for a regular municipal police officer; as such a Marshal's jurisdiction is strictly limited to the city limits of the city they are elected from. Even if they witness a violation of the Law in their city, they cannot pursue a person who flees beyond the city limits. The position of City Marshal is rare in the State of New York and is now only found in very small rural cities that do not have the budget to maintain a police department.
New York City Marshals [6] are appointed by the Mayor of New York City to five-year terms, but receive no salary from the city. The city's statutes specify that no more than 83 City Marshals shall be appointed by a mayor. Marshals primarily enforce orders from civil court cases, including collecting on judgments, towing, seizing utility meters and carrying out evictions. Marshals collectively perform approximately 25,000 evictions per year. Marshals are regulated by the NYC Department of Investigation but, unlike the City Sheriff, they are not city employees. Marshals collect fees, which are set by statute, from private litigants when they are called on to enforce judgments, and they also retain five percent of any money they collect on judgments. City marshals may, depending on the court order brought to them by the winning litigant, seize money, moveable property (for instance, inventory from a business), vehicles (as is the case with unpaid parking tickets), and return possession of rental premises to the landlord, (also known as eviction), and so on. On an annual basis City Marshals must pay the City of New York $1,500 plus 4.5 percent of the fees he receives for collecting judgments.
