Final Steps

Early last year something came over the wire about a county sheriff having problems with the way federal agents were treating him and the property within his jurisdiction. I called and spoke with him about the legal tool meant to deal with those symptoms. Then in October that sheriff got together with a half-dozen other sheriffs to discuss these common problems of federal agents/agencies overstepping their authorities. Out of that, a larger conference was held in late January of this year--a bunch of county sheriffs ticked-off at the Feds. I sent an e-mail to the one sheriff, reminding him of our conversation last year. He gave a call, we talked, and he mentioned that there was a conference of county sheriffs of the western states taking place right then.

History: the sheriff came into existence around the 9th century, in England, which makes the sheriff the oldest continuing, non-military, law enforcement entity in history. In early England the land was divided into geographic areas called shires. Within each shire was an individual called a reeve, which meant guardian. This individual was originally selected by the serfs to be their informal leader. The kings observed how influential this individual was within the community and soon incorporated that position into their governing powers. The reeve soon became a king’s appointed representative to protect their interests and act as mediator with people of a particular shire. Through time and usage the words shire and reeve came together to be shire-reeve, guardian of the shire, and eventually the word sheriff.

Depending on the mood and needs of kings, the responsibilities of the Office of Sheriff ebbed and flowed until 1215 when the great document of freedom, the Magna Carta, was reluctantly signed by King John. This document had 63 clauses, 27 of which are related to the restrictions and responsibilities of the sheriff.

Because of the vast British Empire, the concept of sheriff was exported to places such as Canada, Australia, India, and of course, the American Colonies. Following the pattern of English government, sheriffs were appointed. The first sheriff in America is believed to be Captain William Stone, appointed in 1634 for the Shire of Northampton in the colony of Virginia. The first elected sheriff was William Waters in 1652 in the same shire (shire was used in many of the colonies, before the word county replaced it).

The duties of the early American Sheriff were similar in many ways to its English forerunner, centering on court related duties and protection of citizens. In 1776 Pennsylvania and New Jersey adopted the Office of Sheriff in their constitutions. The Ohio Constitution called for the election of the county sheriff in 1802, and from then on state-by-state, the democratic election of sheriff became not only a tradition, but in most states a constitutional requirement. The elected sheriff is part of America’s democratic fabric. In the United States today, of the 3083 sheriffs, with few exceptions, all are elected by the citizens of their counties. This characteristic sets the Office of Sheriff apart from other law enforcement agencies in its direct accountability to citizens through election. The Office of Sheriff is not a department of county government, but the independent office which exercises the sovereign powers of the people in interests of the public trust.

Anyway, I did get to Vegas on Thursday, I did speak with as many county sheriffs as possible, and it turns out that some are like politicians, and some are not. What if one hundred sheriffs or more called a press conference to say they intend to uphold their oaths and defend the Constitution? And since it’s recently come to their attention that the states have cast the requisite number of applications to trigger a convention call, and members of the 112th Congress have failed to carry out their constitutional duty to issue that call, what if the sheriffs proclaim that any member of Congress who steps foot in their counties may be arrested for breaking four separate criminal laws in failing to issue the call? Seems that’s what will be required. The conference I went to was for the sheriffs of the western states. The national conference of county sheriffs is this June in Nashville, Tennessee.