Every Louisiana parish has one elected sheriff, who under the state constitution is the parish's chief law enforcement officer, carries out court orders and process, and (everywhere except Orleans) collects state and parish property taxes. The sheriff also keeps the parish jail. To reach the sheriff for any parish, use the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association directory, which lists the sheriff of each of the 64 parishes with a phone number.
What a Louisiana sheriff does
The office is set up in Article V, Section 27 of the Louisiana Constitution: "In each parish a sheriff shall be elected for a term of four years. He shall be the chief law enforcement officer in the parish, except as otherwise provided by this constitution, and shall execute court orders and process. He shall be the collector of state and parish ad valorem taxes and such other taxes and license fees as provided by law." The last line of that section says it does not apply to Orleans Parish, which has its own arrangement, described below.
A statute, R.S. 13:5539, adds three more duties in plain terms. Except in Orleans, the sheriff is ex officio collector of state and parish taxes. Each sheriff or deputy "shall attend every court that is held in his parish" and shall execute the writs, orders, and process of the court. And each sheriff "shall be keeper of the public jail of his parish and shall preserve the peace and apprehend public offenders."
Put together, a Louisiana sheriff's office is a police agency, a jail, the court's officer for service and seizures, and (outside Orleans) the parish tax office.
Law enforcement and the parish jail
Sheriff's deputies patrol the parish, investigate crimes, and book arrested people into the parish jail. Because the sheriff keeps the jail, the sheriff's office is the place to ask whether someone is in custody there. The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement's LA VINE service publishes live rosters for participating parish jails, and the Louisiana inmate search page explains those official tools.
Arrest warrants are issued by judges and other magistrates, not by the sheriff, but the sheriff's office executes them. The Louisiana warrant information page covers how warrants work and how to ask about one.
Courts, civil process, and sheriff's sales
Deputies attend the parish's courts and serve the writs, orders, and process that the courts direct to the sheriff. They also carry out judgments. Under Code of Civil Procedure article 2291, "A judgment for the payment of money may be executed by a writ of fieri facias directing the seizure and sale of property of the judgment debtor." That is the source of the familiar sheriff's sale.
The notice rules for those sales are in article 2331. Notice of a sale under a writ of fieri facias must be published at least once for movable property and at least twice for immovable property, and a court may order more. A rescheduled sale of immovable property needs one new publication. The article also says the sheriff "shall not order the advertisement of the sale" until three days, not counting holidays, have passed after the judgment debtor is served with the notice of seizure. For the date, place, and terms of a particular sale, ask the sheriff's office conducting it.
Property tax collection
Outside Orleans, the parish property tax bill comes from the sheriff, not the assessor. The assessor values property; the sheriff, as ex officio tax collector, bills and collects. The Louisiana assessors and property taxes page explains how the two offices fit together.
Collection practices differ by parish, so always use the sheriff's own website or office. Three central Louisiana examples, as their sites read in October 2026:
- The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office identifies the sheriff as "Sheriff & Ex-Officio Tax Collector," links an online property tax payment service, says card payments carry a fee of 3.5 percent with a $2.00 minimum, and links a delinquent tax listing.
- The Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office has a Tax Office page covering finance, tax, bonds, and fines. It lists hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., says the office is closed on weekends and major holidays, and lists money orders, cashier's checks, cash, credit cards, and in-parish checks as accepted forms of payment.
- The Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office website has a Pay Property Tax page.
Unpaid property taxes have serious consequences. The constitution says there is no forfeiture of property for nonpayment of taxes, but the assessment of ad valorem taxes on immovable property is a lien and privilege in favor of the taxing body, and the legislature provides for tax sales, with interest on delinquent taxes capped at one percent per month (noncompounding) and a penalty capped at five percent (Const. art. VII, §25). Ask the sheriff's tax office about any delinquent bill.
Records a sheriff's office keeps, and how to request them
A sheriff's office is a public body under Louisiana's Public Records Law, which covers offices and agencies of parish government (R.S. 44:1). Any person may obtain a copy of a public record unless the law makes an exception, and the custodian carries the burden of proving that a record is not subject to inspection (R.S. 44:31).
Law enforcement records have their own rule. R.S. 44:3 does not require disclosure of certain records, including records of pending or reasonably anticipated criminal litigation and arrest records before conviction or a guilty plea. The same section says the initial report of the officer investigating a complaint, booking records, and summons or citation records "shall be a public record."
Timing and cost follow the general rules. A record that is immediately available must be presented immediately; if it is in active use, the custodian must set a time within three business days (R.S. 44:33). If the custodian questions whether a record is public, a written determination is due within five business days of a written request (R.S. 44:32). Custodians other than state agencies may charge reasonable copy fees but must post the fee schedule, and no fee may be charged just to examine a public record (R.S. 44:32(C)).
Crash reports are a common request. The state's Local Louisiana parish pages point readers to the Louisiana State Police statewide crash report website to find official crash reports for any parish, with limited previews and full reports available for purchase. If the sheriff's office worked the crash, the office itself can also say how to get the report.
What the sheriff does not handle
Several records that people expect from the sheriff are kept elsewhere:
- Court case files are kept by the clerk of court, who is the clerk of the district court in each parish. See Louisiana court records.
- Deeds and mortgages are recorded by the clerk of court as parish recorder. See Louisiana property records.
- Property values and exemptions are set by the parish assessor.
- State criminal history is kept by the Louisiana State Police, which describes Louisiana as "a closed record state." See Louisiana criminal records.
Orleans Parish
Orleans works differently in two ways. First, it has a single sheriff. R.S. 13:5581 provides "one sheriff for the parish of Orleans," and when that sheriff took office the separate offices of civil sheriff and criminal sheriff were abolished and merged into one. Any law that still refers to the civil sheriff or the criminal sheriff is treated as referring to the sheriff of the parish of Orleans. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association directory lists the Orleans Parish sheriff with the other 63.
Second, the Orleans sheriff does not collect property taxes. Article V, Section 27 does not apply to Orleans, and R.S. 13:5539 makes the sheriff tax collector "except in the parish of Orleans." The City of New Orleans says property taxes are paid to the Bureau of Treasury at New Orleans City Hall, 1300 Perdido Street, Room 1W40, with checks payable to the City of New Orleans, and that bills are mailed to the owner of record with the Orleans Parish Assessor's Office, generally in mid to late December.
The Orleans Parish Jail has a LA VINE roster; the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement uses it as its example of a live jail roster.
Finding your parish sheriff
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association's online sheriffs directory lists every parish sheriff with a phone number, and the parish listings add contact details; the Rapides Parish listing, for example, gives the office address, phone, fax, email, and website. The Local Louisiana parish profiles on louisiana.gov link to the same directory. The association is a statewide organization based in Baton Rouge, not a sheriff's office itself, so jail, report, and tax questions go to the parish sheriff.
This site's parish pages list the sheriff alongside the clerk of court and other parish offices where research has confirmed them, for example the Grant Parish Clerk of Court, the Avoyelles Parish Clerk of Court, and the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court. To find a parish that is not listed here, start from the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.