History of Agency
Throughout our country, Sheriffs perform a variety of duties in the service of the citizens of their respective jurisdictions. Whatever their duties might be and regardless of their offices' priorities, the County Sheriff is, above all the chief constitutional law enforcement officer of the County.
The Office of the Sheriff is not new. It is among the oldest and most respected of offices to be found in modern civilization. In fact, the Sheriff has been a part of our lives for more than a thousand years, easily able to trace its roots to the Saxons of England in 992 a.d. The name Sheriff actually derives from the old English title "Shire Reeve". The reeve was the "king's man" within a shire, a small community of about one hundred families. His duty was to maintain order while enforcing the king's will along with that of the court. The importance and authority of the Sheriff was firmly and permanently established upon the signing in 1215 of the Magna Carta by the despotic King John. In England the office was an appointed and often expensive one. Charged with collecting taxes and fines on the kings behalf, the Sheriff was held personally responsible to the crown for amounts which went unpaid.
The Office of the Sheriff crossed the ocean with the colonist upon the opening of the New World in the middle of the 17th Century. There is some debate as to just when the first Sheriff in America took office. Some research tells us that the first Sheriff was elected in Virginia in 1651, but most accounts agree that America's first Sheriff was Lord William Baldridge, appointed in 1634 here in Maryland as Sheriff of St. Mary's County.
By the time the colonies of the New World were united a century later, the Sheriff was no longer appointed. He was elected. Fortunately, the Office of the Sheriff remains an elected position in Maryland and elsewhere and and in virtually all jurisdictions, including Maryland, the Sheriff is the only law enforcement officer who is directly accountable to the public at large.
The first English settlement in what is know Queen Anne's County occurred in 1631 on Kent Island by William Claiborne. But the area was already inhabited by the Naticoke , Matapeake , and Tuckahoe Indian tribes. In 1662 Talbot County was formed and it included the area of current Queen Anne' s County Maryland. In 1706 the Maryland Assembly passed legislation to form Queen Anne' s County from the northern portion of Talbot County and the southern part of Kent County. The area designated to become the new county seat was called Queens town e (later known as Queenstown) , and a court house was built in 1708. The first Jail house in the county was built across the street from the court house in 1709 . The second jail house was built in 1751 also in Queens towne. During Colonial times High Sheriff's were appointed to their positions for a three year term. Queen Anne's Counties first High Sheriff was Colonel Richard Tilghman in 1708. Below is a list of the Colonial High Sheriff's Of Queen Anne's County until it became an elected post in 1776.
Richard Tilghman 1708
Philemon Hemsley 1711
William Sweatnam 1714
Nathaniel Wright 1717
Edward Wright 1718
James Earle 1730
Thomas Wright 1736
Edward Tilghman 1739
Thomas Wright 1742
James Hollyday Jr. 1745
Henry Hollyday 1748
Thomas Harris 1751
William Hooper 1754
Jonathan Nicholson 1760
James Edmonson 1763
John Campbell 1766
William Hindman 1769
Charles Goldsborough 1772
Philemon Downes 1773
William Wright 1775-1776
In 1782 the seat of county government was moved to a more central location to be known as Chester Field later changes to Centreville. The town was incorporated in 1794 the same year a new court house was completed in the center of town. This court house is still used daily holding court making it the oldest court house in use in Maryland. The Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office is charged with the protection of this building and to ensure that court sessions are not disrupted. Our office has several deputies assigned to this function. In 1788 the county was ordered to sell the old court house and jail in Queenstown . However an new jail was not completed in Centreville until 1799. The new jail in Centreville was rebuilt and strengthened in 1867. A new jail and Sheriff's house was built in 1908 on N. Liberty St. at Broadway. That building stood until 1992 when it was razed and replaced with the Liberty building which houses county offices. In 1988 the Sheriff's office gave up the duties of the jail and a county Department of Corrections w as formed with in the county and a new modern jail was constructed in Centreville. In 1989 the sheriff's office moved into a portion of the Old Maryland State Police Barracks On Safety Drive in Centreville we shared this building with County roads and the county emergency dispatch center. In 1998 our office once again moved to another larger county building on Railroad Ave. in Centreville, we share this building as well with several other agencies. In 2003 work should begin on a new Sheriff Office headquarters all of our own.
List of County Sheriff's since 1777
Court Houses of Queen Anne's County
Queen Anne's County Sheriff's house, office and jail built in 1908
Duties of the Office of the Sheriff, Queen Anne's County
Beginning in 1990, the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office developed a new mission for the office of the Sherifff: that of a full service law enforcement agency. This was achieved through the implementation of stringent rules and policies and the development of various units, sections and divisions within the Sherifff's office.
Today, the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office has met those goals established in 1990 and functions as the County's primary law enforcement entity, with its main objective being to serve and protect the citizens of Queen Anne's County. To accomplish this each member of the Queen Anne's County Sherifff's office is charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the lives of all persons within the County, protecting property and assisting in securing to all persons equal protection of the law, as well as preserving the public peace, deterring and preventing the commission of crimes, enforcing the laws and ordinances of Queen Anne's County and the State of Maryland, arresting those who wish to violate the law, maintain the safe and orderly flow of traffic on public roadways and to assist other law enforcement agencies in carrying out their duties, as well as our own, in a dignified way and manner so as to inspire the confidence of the public.
There are many facets of the Sheriff's office today, each charged with the responsibility of performing a specific function or assignment. With the ever increasing complexities of modern law enforcement, the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office has become committed to continued and specialized training for its personnel, which enables today's deputy Sheriff to possess the knowledge, skills and training needed to effectively perform his or her duties to their utmost ability.
History of our patch
1972-1982 |
1982-1986 |
1986-1992 |
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