About the Office

OVERVIEW OF OFFICE

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office is a stand-alone governmental entity, separate and apart from the Parish Council. The Sheriff’s Office was originally created in 1812. The Sheriff’s position is reaffirmed by Article V, Section 27 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. The Sheriff is a separately elected official, elected by the citizens of the parish in a general popular election every 4 years.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office has the responsibility of enforcing state and local laws and ordinances within the territorial boundaries of the parish. The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office provides protection to its citizens through on-site patrols, criminal investigations, narcotic investigations, community policing, etc. While we have jurisdiction throughout the parish, our efforts are focused primarily on the unincorporated areas of the parish, and those municipalities without their own police force.
• The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office also administers the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center (i.e., the parish jail). This is a one hundred eighty six (186) bed facility located on the second floor of the Sheriff’s Office in St. Martinville, LA. The facility is owned and maintained by the parish government, but St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office provides the manpower to run the facility.

• The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office exercises civil process duties required by the parish court, such as providing bailiffs to the court system, executing orders of the courts, serving subpoenas, seizing property, administering garnishments in the parish, etc.
• The Sheriff also serves as the “Ex-Officio” tax collector of the parish. As such, the Sheriff is responsible for the collection and distribution of ad valorem (property) taxes, sales and use taxes, parish occupational licenses, state revenue sharing funds, fines and forfeitures, costs and bond forfeitures imposed by the courts, etc.