ABOUT US: WHAT DOES THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE DO?     

A question often asked is, “What exactly does the Sheriff’s Office do?”  To begin with, we are a law enforcement agency. We make arrests and file charges. We can enforce the traffic code. Because of our core duties, we do not patrol neighborhoods or respond to calls as do municipal or state police officers. We will assist these agencies when requested.

What are those core duties?

• From the judges to the defendants to the attorneys and everyone in between, we are responsible for security and safety in the four courtrooms of the Common Pleas and Central Court in Adams County. The courthouse is open 240 days each year. For 159 of those days courts are in session and we are directly involved in courtroom security duties.

• We are tasked to transport prisoners to and from the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex (ACACC) for their court proceedings; 1,700 in 2012 alone.  Many prisoners brought here come here from prisons outside of Adams County even out of state. They are transported during the 81 days when there is no court in session and returned afterwards. In 2012 we completed 833 such transports

• We are responsible for serving warrants from the Court of Common Pleas which range from non-payment of fines, failure to appear on up to criminal charges. Many of these individuals are either out-of-county or out-of-state. For the remainder, the Sheriff’s Office verifies information and executes the warrant by making an arrest or indicating the address information is not valid or the whereabouts of the wanted person is not known. In 2012, the Warrant Team tripled its warrant attempts and doubled the warrants served; a 500% increase over 2011.

• The Sheriff’s Office participates in the US Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force operations on a regular basis serving arrest warrants for individuals charged with violent crimes in Adams County.

• Deputies serve civil process such as Civil Complaints. With a deadline of 30 days to complete, deputies travel all over Adams County often taking multiple trips when parties are not home. We served 1,400 complaints in 2012.

• Personal Property Judgments must be served within 90 days. A levy is completed and personal property sales are scheduled. When the sale is set, deputies return to the property to conduct the sale. We served 250 judgments in 2012.

• Real estate judgments are served to property owners, a sale posted and a Sheriff’s Sale set. There were over 300 of these in 2012.

• We serve Protection from Abuse orders (PFA’s). Individuals are served, instructions are given and court orders explained as regards the consequence of failing to comply with the order of the court. In some cases, evictions are made. In others, weapons are seized by order of the court. More than 100 PFA’s were served in 2012.

• Deputies serve subpoenas notifying people they are needed as witnesses in court; over 300 in 2012.

• We are responsible for processing and issuing License to Carry (LTC) concealed weapons permits including conducting background and criminal history checks. We processed and issued 2,337 LTC permits in 2012.

We accomplish this with a staff of just 15 employees including three civilians. In the last three years, our Office has brought in over a half-million dollars in various fees to Adams County.

James W. Muller

Sheriff