County Sheriff: Roles and Responsibility

A county sheriff is a high ranking law enforcement official. In certain areas of the United States a sheriff’s office is still considered the primary law enforcement office. What this means is that the Sheriff’s office has jurisdiction of the county that it resides in, regarding legal matters.

Because of this status, the county sheriff is the most important law official in the county. They are the individuals who look over and serve various legal documents to individuals; legal documents like subpoenas, notices, and even civil papers that are filed with the Sheriff’s office. The reason that this is so is because the Sheriff’s office works in very close proximity to the county court.


The criminals who are processed in the sheriff’s office, and the individuals who seek legal actions in the county both come through the Sheriff’s office and are put into the county court.

The county sheriff is also the individual that can help provide the court with protection and bailiffs; bailiffs in a county court are often the deputy sheriff’s that have been assigned to that particular duty for the day.

Besides the court aspect of the county sheriff’s office, there is also the law enforcement aspect in which the deputies and often the county sheriff respond to call of distress regarding domestic issues, criminal acts, vandalism, and various other concerns that happen around the county. They work to help investigate and solve these issues, or send them forward to other law enforcement agencies better equipped to handle the issues.

NEXT: What is a Deputy Sheriff?