Return of the Sheriff
27th February 2024
If there is one uniquely American institution still held in high regard, even as general trust in American institutions has cratered, it is the elected office of sheriff. The office of sheriff has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon tradition and centuries of English common law, but the sheriff who keeps the peace with a steely gaze and a steady hand, not in the interest of some far-flung ruler in a distant capital but at the request of his neighbors, is surely a uniquely American icon.
When you talk with elected sheriffs—as I am frequently blessed to do at the annual Claremont Sheriffs Fellowship and when I provide briefings to various sheriff departments around the country—you hear repeatedly two main points that emphasize why American faith in this storied office is not misplaced.