The Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is a law enforcement agency located in

Atlantic County, New Jersey Atlantic County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 15th-most-populous county,State Constitution of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

is responsible for providing a variety of functions associated with the judicial process and enforcement of law. The head of the organization is Sheriff Joe O'Donoghue.

History

Atlantic County was formed out of parts of Gloucester County on February 7, 1837. The first

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the ...

was established that same year, and decided on Mays Landing as the location for the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Philemon Dickerson appointed Isaac Smith as the first

of Atlantic County. Sheriff Isaac Smith served as an appointed official until he was duly elected in the fall of 1837. At the time a sheriff's term in office was only one year. Sheriff Smith served three one-year terms. The sheriff's term in office was eventually changed to three years, but consecutive terms were not allowed until a constitutional change in 1947. This first county jail was located on River Road in Mays Landing on the property of Captain John Pennington. Until a permanent building was constructed, court was held at Pennington’s Inn. In 1838 the first courthouse was built on Main Street in Mays Landing where the building remains today; although, it now serves as office space for the County Clerk, County Surrogate, as well as the Joint Municipal Court of Atlantic County. The original building was only 40’ x 40’, and now consists of Courtroom #2. The permanent jail was constructed in 1840. The building was designed by well-known

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

architect

Thomas Ustick Walter Thomas Ustick Walter (September 4, 1804 – October 30, 1887) was an American architect. He worked on more than 400 projects, including Moyamensing Prison and Girard College in Philadelphia. He served as the fourth Architect of the Capitol, ...

. Throughout the years new jails were built to keep up with the growing inmate population. Larger facilities were built in 1932 and 1962. In 1985 the curren
Atlantic County Justice Facility
was opened. A few years later, in 1987, the jail operations split from the sheriff’s office and th
Department of Public Safety
was created. In the early days of the sheriff’s office, at least three executions were conducted by the sheriff. These executions were conducted at the "hanging tree" on Main Street in Mays Landing at the site of the old courthouse. The last was conducted September 20, 1907, when Joseph Labriola was hung for murder by Sheriff Smith E. Johnson. Sheriff Smith E. Johnson served as Sheriff until 1908, when he was succeeded by his undersheriff, and son, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. Sheriff Enoch Johnson served in the position until he was ousted by a court order in 1911. Nucky Johnson went on to become a well-known political boss and racketeer. Nucky has been fictionalized as the main character in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television series ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

''.

Notable people

Employees or people otherwise closely associated with the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office include: * Enoch "Nucky" Johnson (1883-1968), Served as Sheriff and Undersheriff. Nucky was a well-known political boss and racketeer. Johnson was the inspiration for the character

Nucky Thompson Enoch Malachi "Nucky" Thompson is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO TV series '' Boardwalk Empire'', portrayed by Steve Buscemi. Nucky is loosely based on former Atlantic City, New Jersey political figure Enoch Lewis "Nucky" ...

on the

series "

". * Art Dorrington (1930-2017), Sheriff's Officer who was a former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

References

External links

* {{Government of Atlantic County, New Jersey Atlantic County, New Jersey Sheriffs' departments of New Jersey

History

Notable people

See also

References

External links