When in his or her judgment the public good requires it, the attorney general may apply to the governor for leave to employ detective service, at the expense of the state, in the detection and apprehension of a criminal, in the investigation of any criminal offense and in the collection of evidence to secure the conviction of a person accused of crime. A person or persons, residents of this state, so employed may be designated state investigator and, while thus engaged and acting under the orders of the attorney general, shall have and may exercise the powers now granted by law to sheriffs in the enforcement of the criminal law, upon giving a bond to the state in such penal sum as the governor shall require, conditioned for the faithful performance of his or her duties, and upon taking the oath prescribed for sheriffs before any person authorized to administer oaths and upon same being certified to the governor.