Bremer County Sheriff

About

The Bremer County Sheriff's Office is dedicated to protecting and serving those who live or visit Bremer County.

Story

Sheriff’s Office Composition and History

The office of the “Sheriff” existed in England before the Magna Carta. The name is derived from two words “Shire” meaning “County” and “Reeve” meaning “keeper or bailiff”, and arrive in this country with the “common law” by the colonists who fled from England.

The Bremer County Sheriff’s Office had its first elected sheriff in August of 1853 with Sheriff Austin Farris serving a total of one year and four months. Bremer County has since had a total of 24 individuals serve its people as Sheriff.

In the early days the Sheriff provided the local law enforcement and operated the common jail. As the county grew, local law enforcement developed in those comminutes desiring more services than was available from the County Sheriff. While the Sheriff is ultimately responsible for all law enforcement activities in the entire county, he is able to accomplish this through local police agencies performing these services if available from local government. With the growth of local law enforcement, there has been a change in the role of the Sheriff.

The Sheriff’s Office has progressed towards doing those police functions that have countywide implications and are best handled county wide. These would include Sheriff’s patrol, Jail, Civil Process, Criminal Investigations, Weapons Permits, D. A. R. E. and School Resource Officers, Accident Investigators, Consumer Fraud as well as all other generalized law enforcement duties. The Sheriff takes an active role in facilitating the coordination of law enforcement activities in his county.

In Bremer County the Sheriff accomplishes the above tasks by having deputy sheriff’s carry out many of the sworn duties. A total of 12 deputy sheriff’s currently are employed by the sheriff’s office. Although all deputies are responsible for a basic understanding of all elements of law enforcement two deputies primarily focus on investigations including criminal investigations and drug investigations. Three deputies’ focus on civil process serving and the remainder work patrol. A part-time reserve deputy sheriff currently serves as the county school resource officer, serving 7 school districts throughout the county. The sheriff’s office also has two secretarial positions and 13 jailers under his direction. The sheriff also is in charge of communications for Bremer County which includes communications for all emergency services, which requires a staff of 5 full time employees and 1 part-time.

Mission

Bremer County Sheriff Mission Statement

The mission of the Bremer County Sheriff's Office is the preservation of public peace and order. This shall be primarily performed through the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the protection of persons and property, and the enforcement of the laws of the State of Iowa and the ordinances of Bremer County. For these purposes, the Deputy Sheriff's are endowed with the authority. In the exercise of this authority, justice and equity shall be the primary motive. The mission shall be accomplished by adherence to the following objectives.

Maintenance of law enforcement presence and availability throughout Bremer County on a 24 hour basis.

Provision of timely and rapid response to criminal activities and all other requests for law enforcement services.

Thorough investigation of criminal offenses and apprehension of violations of state statue and county ordinances.

Initiation of investigations where it appears that violation of law may have occurred.

Enforcement of traffic laws to provide safe, smooth, and orderly flow of traffic.

Provision of services to every criminal court within the county for the provision of safety, order, and efficient operation of these courts.
Maintenance and operation of the county jail.

Provision of required service of all civil and criminal process.

Participation in crime prevention activities and other public information activities that involve the citizens of Bremer County in the interest of public safety.

Provision of community policing services to enhance community involvement with law enforcement to accomplish the goals of this mission.

The primary emphasis of the department shall be on public safety, specifically by maintaining law enforcement presence, rapid response to calls for service, thorough investigations and resolutions of criminal acts, timely apprehensions of violators of the law.

The goals will be accomplished by each member of the Bremer County Sheriff's Office who are expected to perform their duties in an efficient, homes, and professional manner. Members of the Bremer County Sheriff's Office are to act at all times in the interest of public safety and are to conduct themselves in a fair and impartial manner.