200 Years of the NSW Sheriff's Office

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State Archives collection is housed here at Kingswood.

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We run to over 90 kilometres of records and these date from the various earliest days of the colony of NSW through and Have a look at the Charter of Justice, the Charter of Justice, the third Charter of Justice in terms of nationhood.

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It was a real pivot.

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It was a real pivot moment for colony, the courts to be safely independent.

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And that is what the sheriff under your leadership does.

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And it was good that with this it established some sort of law and order And the Sheriff is a vital organ.

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Tell you what, it's a legacy you've got to live up to.

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And I, I know the role of the NSW Sheriff's officer is to ensure the safety of all persons in the courtroom.

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Place your bag on the conveyor belt.

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Thank you.

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And several supporters defied sheriff officers who were acting on a Supreme Court order to evict him from his egg farm at Preston.

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The court officer cannot under any circumstances discuss the case with the jury faithful and bear to allegiance.

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Oh my God, the NSW Sheriff's Office.

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Who are we?

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What do we do and why are we so important to the justice system?

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It's 1824.

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It's only been a few decades since the unseeded takeover of what colonialists declared Terra nullius from millennia of ownership by Indigenous Australians.

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The lawlessness of the first military colony of NSW called for some serious civilian reform.

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The solution proposed a sheriff.

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No, no, no, not this.

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Instead, after many deliberations, the first sheriff, John Macaness, was appointed by the King and was shipped over from good old England.

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His role was to execute a Bush version of the law enforcer from Saxon times, birthing the oldest law enforcement agency in Australia.

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Since then, things haven't always gone according to plan.

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There have been some unfortunate mishaps, dangerous debt collection and the gruesome role of the hangman stayed with us right up until the 1950s.

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Since then, the nation has evolved, jurisdictions have shifted and as Australia changed, so did the NSW Sheriff's Office.

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In around about 70s, I was asked if I'd go on secondment to the Sheriff's Office because they thought it was about time that there was an upgrading or a modernization had a bit of a hurdle because some of the officers there had been there since World War 2.

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And so they were established and they really enjoyed their job.

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It was a dreadful job.

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They nearly all complained all the time.

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We weren't equipped for it, really.

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Hello, Don Edward Kennedy.

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Don was in the Sheriff's Office when I came there.

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So we had law enforcement officers in civilian clothing going into people's houses and seizing goods.

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That's not the way you run a place.

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So with the help of people like Dolly, we transitioned.

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I introduced the uniforms.

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We had a blue, a bluey grey leather jacket.

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In those days, we're sort of standing at the front looking tough.

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Yes, it may have been the uniform that inspired me to join.

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The job became a much more public law enforcement agency.

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But one of the most dramatic changes was court security.

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The well-being of every court depends on the quality of the security maintained by sheriff's officers in the city.

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Due to the greater volume of court activity, security requires more complex procedures.

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The emphasis towards the security has certainly changed.

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Do training, get our training levels up and use our skills and we free up police not to have to be there.

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Back in my olden days everything were were was done manually.

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We we had to do carbon copy the carburetor and we had to be a bit careful that we didn't make mistakes.

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We spent about half $1,000,000 in 198586 on a computerization of the jury system and that certainly improved the operations.

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I was one of the first that was from all we and we were both were caught off certain in charge of the different juries.

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I'm sure you came across of a lot of people that were nervous.

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Oh yes, one of our strengths is actually gaining the community's trust because we're the first point of contact for any member of the community.

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I always coach them outside court and say now look, look at the judge, we're here to assist you.

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That's right.

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It was a very interesting job and I loved every minute of it, you know?

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What year was that?

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That was in 1987 and they were just trialling women at that stage.

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My first few days I was really excited and I rocked up to Gosford Charis office.

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The manager at the time, he didn't know anything about it.

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He did make a quite a few phone calls to head office to find out what was going on.

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Now I'd always worked in male dominated workforces.

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I was an investigation officer.

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I had a bit of a a fight with a petrol tanker.

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I was doing an espionage job.

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I lost my left eye, said I think I'll join the sheriff's.

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I would have the skills.

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Women can do the job.

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The challenge was perfect.

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Well, as the first female sheriff that's been appointed permanently to the role, you know, you question yourself and you ask, have I got the goods to get through this?

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But I've been in the justice system for 42 years, started my career as a police officer and I was studying law at the same time.

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And I had a baby in between all of that as well.

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So I worked in high needs disability and I worked at a dairy farm for a long time.

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I was a hairdresser for a long, long, long time and just been able to talk to anybody, empathise with them, deescalate.

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I'm really happy that we have a female sheriff of NSW, sort of gives hope to the new generation that it's not just a male's job.

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I really do think that that's part of the true fabric of the Sheriff's Office.

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You know, we have got people from all walks of life.

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I'd come from a originally a military background and I was the sheriff from 2008 to 2011.

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There was a humbleness, if you like, to the organisation.

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I put it out to the the staff and I said find some efficiencies.

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Look at at shifting the way that we communicated and we started including just the basic translation.

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Lots of times like you meet with different people and he's from our background like two of our field officer.

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They went to the one address, that guy, he was very anxious because he thought maybe something bad happened.

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And then officer, he said Ranjan, can you help?

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And I explained to him in Bengali, just someone wrote the money.

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It's helped him to feel safe.

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Was that first step for us towards breaking down barriers.

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It's that whole thing about partnership.

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The court can be incredibly intimidating.

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In my late 20s, I was going through a split up.

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I ended up representing myself in the Federal Circuit Court, and it was a terrifying experience.

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As such, I always make an effort to ensure that people who attend the court understand what is expected of them, understand what they're meant to do so that they can focus on their case rather than doing the wrong thing.

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Bug wrapping Redfern 80s, early 90s and my grandparents were a part of the Stolen Generation and anyone with any authority, there's no trust.

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I was working at the Danning Centre and I was assisting people that I knew, so I was actually helping them.

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It can't change it unless you're a part of it.

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But Indigenous kids, I think it's important that they see the blue uniform as it's not an enemy.

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I was so bloody proud to show my grandkids.

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Look, Baba, I did that.

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I would.

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I like to be really supportive of my staff and I try and encourage them to talk about things with me.

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We're doing a really good job, I think, starting to represent people and allow people to be comfortable and proud of who they are.

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Oh wow, I feel powerful.

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This isn't Sergeant being a young person in this job, their senior officers, they'd pass down their experience and knowledge to the younger and new recruits and makes it easier for us.

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But then that's when US younger generation step in and we make it better.

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The academy's providing a workforce that's trained and equipped, provide various programmes to existing sheriff's offices, new recruit classes, developing our people, giving them the training and the confidence so they become future leaders.

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We have abilities, we have skills that can be utilised across the board.

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RFS assist police assist during COVID and things like that.

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The Sheriff's Office responded to the COVID-19 crisis in an incredible way.

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The stuff we had to do with COVID, we would stand up in front of a bunch of jurors and explain how to use a COVID test.

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Oh my God.

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And Susan would get out the test and show the stick right next to it.

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We were able to accommodate all the different rules and public health orders that were coming into effect.

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But it's how we deal with it as a small team and how the organisation, as a wider organisation deals with it.

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Everybody supports one another and we work together no matter where you go.

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We've come a long way in the last 10 to 12 years.

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We've we've now got the respect of the community and we're recognised as a a very prominent law enforcement agency, so there's some real credit to all of the staff for how they've been performing.

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This 200 year milestone has given us the opportunity to really stop and reflect on where we are as an organisation and I think where we are right now is something that we can all be very proud of.

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I don't get emotional.

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Yeah, that's really, really wonderful.

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I think everyone who works for the Sheriff's Office does it because it's in them, it's in their heart.

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They don't do it for themselves, they do it for the community that we serve.

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I don't know if it was your time, but someone said they used to have barbecues on the roof of the Downing Centre.

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At the Downing Centre?

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Yes, yes, do tell me.

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Oh, but, but with, with, with the approval of the chief magistrate and the chief judge.

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One fun fact about the Sheriff's that no one would know.

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We at the Sheriff's do not have fun.

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Fun fact, people think that we've got a horse.

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One of the ones I used to get was do you wear tights?

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Sheriff of Nottingham, the bad dude.

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That's us.

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We're NSW Sheriff's Offices and we're proud to be protecting you and our justice system.