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I was talking to my next door neighbor and friend since high school who also happens to be a Deputy Sheriff. ___________________________________________________ Freepers must ask for a sit down with their local sheriff to find out, face to face, where he stands on this issue. If he is on board, he is the first one to contact when the SHTF.

The Office of the Sheriff has existed for over one thousand (1000) years and is the oldest law enforcement position in the United States. The word Sheriff is derived from the Shire-reeve, who was the most powerful English law authority figure, even before 1000 A.D.

The Shire-reeve, in contrast to a reeve (in charge of mere tenths), was responsible for both the order of the land within his banded group of a hundred families (shire) and the call of the "hue and cry".

The hue and cry made every citizen in earshot of the sheriff’s call lawfully obligated to join in a posse-commitatas, or group, which banded to catch criminals

The Magna Carta was written and signed by King John in 1215 A.D., nearly 800 years ago. The sheriffs had already existed and were known under this sir title. Sheriffs had been recognized as principle participants in the drama of government, seated just under the crown’s barons in hierarchy. Their duties and responsibilities mostly carried over as America was established.

The first such transition of the English Sheriff to American soil was in Virginia in 1634. Sheriff’s were still appointed by the King and was an extension of royal authority and representative of the King. There is a record of a sheriff being elected by popular vote as early as 1651, but this was highly irregular for the rules of the era.