Sheriff/Coroner

OFFICE MISSION

This Office constitutes an organization whose very existence is justified solely on the basis of community service.  Although departmental regulations provide a working pattern, our official activity must not be confined within the limited orbit described by them.  Actually, that portion of police service dealing with real criminals is only a small part of our overall responsibility.  The greater percentage of our time and energy is expended on non-criminal service functions and in dealing with law abiding citizens of the county.  We should consider it our duty and privilege, not only to protect our citizens from the criminal but also to protect and defend the rights guaranteed under the constitution.  Our broad philosophy must embrace a wholehearted determination to protect and support individual rights and property in the county.  A society free from crime and disorder remains an unachieved ideal; nevertheless, consistent with the department’s role to enforce the law in an impartial manner, recognizing both the statutory and judicial limitations of police authority and the constitutional rights of all persons.  It is not the role of this department to legislate, to render legal judgements or to punish.  In meeting these objectives, it is our duty to operate as a public service organization.