  The presence of fine structures in the sunspot vector magnetic fields has
been confirmed from Hinode as well as other earlier observations. We studied 43
sunspots based on the data sets taken from ASP/DLSP, Hinode (SOT/SP) and SVM
(USO). In this \emph{Letter}, (i) We introduce the concept of signed shear
angle (SSA) for sunspots and establish its importance for non force-free
fields. (ii) We find that the sign of global $\alpha$ (force-free parameter) is
well correlated with the global SSA and the photospheric chirality of sunspots.
(iii) Local $\alpha$ patches of opposite signs are present in the umbra of each
sunspot. The amplitude of the spatial variation of local $\alpha$ in the umbra
is typically of the order of the global $\alpha$ of the sunspot. (iv) We find
that the local $\alpha$ is distributed as alternately positive and negative
filaments in the penumbra. The amplitude of azimuthal variation of the local
$\alpha$ in the penumbra is approximately an order of magnitude larger than
that in the umbra. The contributions of the local positive and negative
currents and $\alpha$ in the penumbra cancel each other giving almost no
contribution for their global values for whole sunspot. (v) Arc-like structures
(partial rings) with a sign opposite to that of the dominant sign of $\alpha$
of the umbral region are seen at the umbral-penumbral boundaries of some
sunspots. (vi) Most of the sunspots studied, belong to the minimum epoch of the
23$^{rd}$ solar cycle and do not follow the so-called hemispheric helicity
rule.
