THE OFFICE OF SHERIFF
Introduction
Mention the word "Sheriff" and many people's minds will fill immediately with images of shootouts and gunfights in the Wild West. Such is the power of movies and television, which have so magnified the role of the 19th-century American Sheriff that it is now virtually impossible to think of Sheriffs as existing in any other place or time. Most people would be surprised to know that the office of Sheriff has a proud history that spans well over a thousand years, from the early Middle Ages to our own "high-tech" era.
With a few exceptions, today's Sheriffs are elected officials who serve as the chief law enforcement officer for a county. Although the duties of the Sheriff vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the Sheriff's office is generally active in all three branches of the criminal justice system: law enforcement, the courts and corrections.
The importance of the Office of Sheriff was expressed by Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in his THE VALUE OF CONSTITUTIONS, "The Office of Sheriff is the most important of all the executive offices of the county." President Ronald Reagan stressed this theme of importance in his address to the National Sheriff's Association on June 21, 1984. He said, "Thank you for standing up for this nation's dream of personal freedom under the rule of law. Thank you for standing against those who would transform that dream into a nightmare of wrongdoing and lawlessness. And thank you for your service to your communities, to your country and to the cause of law and justice."
To appreciate the vital function that Sheriffs continue to serve, it is useful to become acquainted with the long and diverse history of the Sheriff's Office. Here, we'll see how that office has grown and changed over the past twelve (12) centuries. Then we'll look in greater detail at the role of the Sheriff today.
The Office of Sheriff is one of antiquity. With the exception of king, no non-religious office in the English-speaking world is older. A history of the Sheriff is a history of man's self-government. It is a history, which begins in the Old Testament, continues through the annals of Judeo-Christian tradition. It is the oldest law enforcement office known within the common-law system and it has always been accorded great dignity and high trust. Indeed, there is no honorable law enforcement authority in Anglo-American law so ancient as that of the County Sheriff. Sheriffs have served and protected the English-speaking people for a thousand years. The Office of Sheriff and the law enforcement, judicial and correctional functions he performs are more than 1000 years old and today, as in the past, the County Sheriff is a peace officer entrusted with the maintenance of law and order and the preservation of domestic tranquility.
Ancient History
Babylonians, Egyptians, and Hebrews - all had laws, and all must have had some kind of "Sheriff" to enforce them. There is no way of knowing who the first sheriff was, if indeed there was even a single first. Perhaps he was a Roman Pro-Consul or Saxon-German - or perhaps he was an Arab sheriff. Whoever he was, we know that there were sheriffs by the time the Book of Daniel was written:
Dan 3:2 "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." KJV
