Until Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, there were few official positions for law enforcement. The earliest example is the office of County Sheriff. In 1788, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was elected the first County Sheriff in Ohio. The Sheriff’s responsibilities are to work with the common pleas courts in matters of court security, jail operations, prisoner transport, corrections and serving papers.

The Justice of the Peace was another early office of law enforcement, though in the form of a magistrate, not an officer. The Justice of the Peace essentially was a person, appointed by the community, who acted as the arbiter of civil disputes. The responsibility of the Justice was primarily to settle smaller matters that would not need the services of a higher court.

The Constable was the primary officer who worked with the Justice of the Peace, serving warrants and insuring that the parties involved executed the legal process properly. The constable would perform some of the same duties that a Sheriff performed, but his responsibilities were limited to a village or district, as opposed to the whole county.

The Constable gave way to an organized force of officers when the Bowling Green Police Division was created in 1887. The establishment of the county court system in 1958 effectively ended the need for a Justice of the Peace. Today the Sheriff remains the only law enforcement office that is filled through an election process.