The office of sheriff is the oldest law enforcement office known within the common-law system it is one of antiquity. The office has always been accorded great dignity with a high level of trust. Although no exact genius exists that constitutes the exact beginnings of the office some evidence is available to prove that the office began as early as the ninth century.

Large groups of free men, who held no land, group themselves into tithing and consisted of ten families. The groups would then elect one of their own to act as chief or tithing men. The chief or tithing man was held responsible to give alarm (hue or cry) when a suspect or an escaped criminal was at large.

Tithings were further consolidated into larger organizations called, hundreds, and these groups were directed into electing a chief. The consolidation led to an extension of this system, by combining the hundreds and resulted in the “Shire”, who was the leader and was also known as the “Shire-reeve”. The pronunciation o these two words as one, gradually developed into the modern word “Sheriff”.

As representative of the king, the Shire-reeve or sheriff was the supreme judicial and police authority within the county, the top official of the Shire or county. The appropriate duties were keeper of the king’s peace, ministerial officer of the superior courts and king’s bailiff. During the thirteenth century the Shire-reeve, with appointed officers, were given the duty to collect the king’s revenue and preserve the king’s peace. This added another job of the Sheriff, which affects a considerable number of sheriff’s in America today.

Power and authority vested in the office accounted for the high status and noble dignity accorded to the sheriff. The high rank established at this point in history has continued throughout the years. The sheriff is still the supreme ministerial officer of the county.