Dallas County Sheriff

For similarly titled law enforcement officers in other counties named "Dallas", see Dallas County.

Dallas County, Texas, the sheriff heads the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, the county's main law enforcement agency.[1]

The department the sheriff heads was established on March 30, 1846,[1][2] and the first sheriff was elected on the very same day.[2]

List of sheriffs

List of Sheriffs[2]
Order
(#)		 Sheriff Tenure Note(s)
1st John Huitt March 30, 1846–c. 1847 Elected on the same day that the county was established; died in office circa 1847
2nd Rowland Huitt Jan.–Aug. 1848 appointed after death of his brother
3rd William Jenkins 1848–1850
4th Trezevant C. Hawpe 1850–1854
5th Adam C. Haught 1854–1856
6th Burnett M. Henderson 1856–1858 was only 19 years old when elected. Shortly after leaving office was arrested on charges of acting as an agent of the secessionist movement. He was tried by a federal tribunal, and sentenced to death by hanging. Was shot fatally while he was attempting to break out of prison.
7th Wormley Carter 1858–1860
8th Allen Beard 1860–1862
9th N.O McAdams 1862–1866 became the first sheriff to serve multiple terms after being re-appointed by the provisional government at the end of the American Civil War
10th Jeremiah M. Brown 1866 elected; removed as Reconstruction policies were implemented and replaced the county's elected sheriff with an appointed sheriff
11th Norval M. Winniford 1866–1873 appointed in 1866, elected in 1870; was the first Republican to hold the office, and last Republican to hold it until 1976
12th James E. Barkley 1873–1876
13th William M. Moon 1876–1882
14th William H.W. Smith 1882–1886
14th William Henry Lewis 1886–1892 first sheriff elected to three terms
15th Ben Cabell 1892–1900 resigned after being elected mayor of Dallas
16th Lee H. Hughes 1900–1901 appointed after Cabell's resignation
17th J. Roll Johnson 1901–1905
18th Arther L. Ledbetter 1905–1910
19th Ben F. Brandenburg 1910–1914
20th Will K. Reynolds 1914–1918
21st Don Harston 1914–1924
22nd Schuyler Marshall Jr. 1924–1927
23rd Allen Seale 1927–May 16, 1928 first sheriff to win election as a write-in; died in office
24th Lula E. Crouch Seale 1928–1929 appointed in a widow's succession; first woman to hold the office
25th Hal Hood 1929–1933
26th Smoot Schmid 1933–1947
27th Bill Decker 1947–August 29, 1970 died in office; first elected in 1947 with opposition, but unopposed in all re-elections subsequent to that'
28th Clarence Jones 1970–1977 appointed; had been a deputy since 1957
29th Carl Thomas 1977 second Republican to hold the office and the first to hold it since Reconstruction
30th Don Byrd Jan. 1981–Jan. 1985 Republican
31st James C. Bowles Jan. 1985–Jan. 2005 Republican
32nd Lupe Valdez Jan. 2005–Dec. 6 2017 first woman elected to the office and second to hold it; first Democrat to hold it since 1977
33rd Marian Brown 2018–present third woman to hold the office

References

  1. ^ a b "Sheriff Department – Dallas County, Texas". Dallas County. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c Hitt, Dick. "History of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department" (PDF). Dallas County. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
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