The Sheriff, the oldest of all law enforcement offices, had its beginning in a past so distant that historical disputes cloud its first formal establishment. Some historians place the office of Roman Pro-Consul as the first official office of Sheriff. However, most historians feel the office was created in Ninth century Anglo-Saxon England where the title "Sheriff" was eventually derived. The country was divided into small land districts, each administered by an official known as "Reeve". Several of these land districts were banded together into, what today would be called a county-sized mass, and was called a "shire". The shire was controlled by a "Shire-Reeve". This term underwent a gradual evolution over the years to become "Sheriff".

With the English colonization of Virginia and the emergence of counties in the 1630's, the office of Sheriff came to America. The office arrived in Maryland in 1634 when Lord William Baldridge was appointed Sheriff in St. Mary's County, Maryland.

The Sheriff has been an elected official in Washington County since the time of the American Revolutionary War. At that time, the Sheriff was elected for a term of three years and could not succeed himself. If he was unable to complete a full term of office, his place was taken by the man who received the second highest number of votes in the election. In addition to serving as an officer of the court, The Sheriff was also the County tax collector.

The first elected Sheriff of Washington County was George Hershey, who served from 1777 until 1780. His term in office was the first of 78 Sheriff's who have served Washington County in this capacity. One of the more interesting chapters in the unbroken chain of officers is the term of Sheriff George Swearingen. Sheriff Swearingen began his term in 1827 and prematurely ended it in 1829 when he was hanged for the murder of his wife.

In 1838, the Maryland Constitution was changed to provide for a separate County tax collector, thus relieving the Sheriff of that "taxing" duty. In 1850, the Sheriff's term of office was reduced to two years. It remained a two year term until 1946, when it was increased to four years. The four year term of office remains the rule today.

Sheriff Charles F. Mades, the 78th Sheriff of Washington County, was first elected to office in 1986 and served until 2006, when he retired. When he was re-elected on November 5, 2002, he became the only person to serve 5 terms as Sheriff of Washington County.

Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore was elected as the 79th Sheriff of Washington County in 2006.

According to A HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND, FROM THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS TO THE PRESENT TIME (Thomas J. C. Williams, Volume I, Hagerstown, 1906), "the jail stood on the alley between Washington and Franklin streets. It was a small structure of logs, with holes to admit light, in the entire absence of windows at that time, and in fact not until recent years, was it considered necessary for the sheriff to reside at the jail." Our best guesses are that this jail was in use from the 1780's until 1826.

A new County jail and Sheriff's quarters were constructed over an eight year period from 1818 to 1826 as a log house on N. Jonathan St. in Hagerstown. In 1857, a fire completely destroyed the jail but left the Sheriff's residence standing. The jail was rebuilt in 1858 and remodeled in 1888, at which time the second floor was added.

Also added were the steel cages which formed the cell blocks. Sometime after this period, the high walls were added that surrounded the entire building. At the conclusion of the remodeling phase, the jail's capacity was 51 inmates.

Washington County's last hanging occurred on 6-30-1916. John Brown was hanged after being found guilty of the murder of a Hagerstown widow.

One of the more notorious escapes from the old Washington County Jail occurred on May 14, 1976. Merle Winfield Unger escaped from the jail. Unger was being held for the murder of a Hagerstown Police Officer during an armed robbery. Unger was eventually captured and returned to Hagerstown, where he stood trial. He is still serving his sentence in the Maryland Department of Corrections system.

For years, Sheriff's consistently attempted to accommodate the ever increasing number of inmates sent to the jail. By 1980, it was obvious the old buildings could not be expanded or updated anymore. By that time, there were over 100 inmates being consistently confined at the old jail and the 10,005 square feet could not be expanded. At that time, plans were developed for the construction of a new, state of the art, Detention Center.

In June of 1984, the inmates were bussed from the old county jail at 201 N. Jonathan St. to a new Detention Center at 500 Western Maryland Parkway on the west side of Hagerstown. The new Detention Center had 56,395 square feet of space and cost 5.8 million dollars to build. Inmate capacity was increased to 162. The old jail was demolished later that year. Some of the stones from the first floor of the old jail were used to build a memorial to all veterans in the Martin L. Snook Park in Washington County.

In 1988, a second bunk was added to each cell.

In 1992, the Work Release/Treatment Unit was added.

In 1996, another 76 bed housing unit was added.

As of 2001, the Washington County Detention Center can house of total of 458 inmates.

All Sheriff's in Maryland and all but 10 of 3000 Sheriff's nationwide are elected by the residents of their jurisdictions. The Office of Sheriff is the only law enforcement officer chosen by the people. All Federal, State, and local police are chosen by their government body. You, the people choose or vote for YOUR Sheriff.