Welcome to the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office

The Geauga County Sheriff is assigned many responsibilities under the Ohio Revised Code. Most of these responsibilities primarily fall into one of five categories. The first responsibility the Sheriff has is to run the County Jail. He is responsible for security, housing and care for the inmates awaiting trial or serving a jail sentence imposed by the Courts. Geauga County has a new 182 bed facility with state of the art security systems.

The second is to run the County Dispatch system. The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office dispatches or handles radio and telephone duties for eleven law enforcement agencies and thirteen fire and rescue companies. The Dispatch Center handles nearly 8,000 incoming phone calls per month 

Third is to serve the courts by providing security, delivering writs or papers of the court, and the service of warrants. Deputies handle prisoner transports to and from penal institutions, serve arrest warrants throughout the United States and perform court ordered sales of property. We assist the courts with jury duty notices, summons and subpoenas.

The fourth responsibility is our records. At the Sheriff’s Office, we generate a lot of records or documents and maintaining them, filing them, and retrieving them is vitally important. Our records have to be shared regularly with courts, other law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, insurance companies, the public and others.

The final responsibility is to provide law enforcement services in the County. Deputies can also be called upon to assist other Sheriffs in other counties during emergencies.

In Geauga County, the Sheriff’s Office is the largest law enforcement agency in the county. Besides the responsibilities already listed, many other tasks such as sex offender registration, the issuing of permits to qualified persons allowing them to carry a concealed weapon and other duties are also assigned to the County Sheriff. The Sheriff performs many tasks that are unique and not performed by other law enforcement agencies.

I thank you for the opportunity to serve the residents of Geauga County as your Sheriff.

Our Mission

The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office is a dedicated group of professionals who are committed to working with the community to make Geauga County a safe and desirable place to live, work or visit. Our mission is to partner with the community to solve problems and improve public safety in a manner that is fair, impartial, transparent, and consistent.

October 24, 2020 Prescription Drop Off

On October 24th, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will offer the opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Please bring your medications for disposal to The Sheriff’s Office at 12450 Merritt Road, Chardon, Ohio 44024.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Prescription drug overdose is a serious public health crisis in Ohio.  Since 2002, prescription medications, such as opioid pain relievers and benzodiazepines, have contributed to the deaths of more than 9,000 Ohioans.  Left over medication presents a serous diversion risk that can ultimately lead to addiction particularly among young Ohioans.  A recent survey by the Ohio Department of Health found that more than 1 in 5 (21%) of Ohio high school students reported using a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription one or more time during their life.

Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand encourages the residents of Geauga County to take advantage of this opportunity to dispose of unwanted mediation.  He also reminds everyone that the Sheriff’s Office also has disposal boxes in the lobby of the Sheriff’s Office available any other time to service the residents of Geauga County in the disposal of unwanted medication.  During this collection, The Sheriff’s Office, working in conjunction with the Geauga Medical Center’s, Environmental Services, will have a biohazard container available for the safe disposal of unwanted needles and syringes, liquids and aerosols.  The ability to safely dispose of these unwanted items will only happen once this year.  Sheriff Hildenbrand stated “this will be an excellent opportunity for Geauga County Residents to safely dispose of these unwanted items.”