Frequently Asked Questions

The administrative offices of the sheriff are located in the county courthouse, corner of Washington Street and Court Street, Morristown, NJ.

8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If you need to contact the Morris County Communications after hours, please call 973-285-2900.

An inquiry, complaint or commendation may be made by email, letter, phone or in person.

If you seek to praise the actions of a particular employee, the best way to accomplish this is to write a brief letter describing the incident and the actions you think were exceptional. Information such as the date, time and location will help identify the officer. Commendations received by the Sheriff’s Office are forwarded to the employee and a copy is placed in his/her personnel file. Your commendation will also be posted on the office’s bulletin board for all to see.

If you wish to file a complaint, please be aware of the following guidelines:

• Your complaint will be sent to a superior officer or a specially trained Internal Affairs officer who will conduct a thorough and objective investigation.
• You may be asked to help in the investigation by giving a detailed statement about what happened or provide other important information and testify in a department hearing.
• All complaints against law enforcement officers are thoroughly investigated. You will be advised in writing of the outcome of the investigation.
• If the investigation shows that a crime may have been committed, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office will be notified. As a result, you may be asked to testify in court regarding this matter.
• If the investigation shows that the complaint is unfounded or the officer acted properly, the matter will be closed.
• It is unlawful to provide information in this matter which you do not believe to be true.
• You may contact the Internal Affairs officer with any additional information or any questions you have about the case at 973-285-6600.
• Download our Internal Affairs Complaint Form(PDF, 137KB)

The local police have primary jurisdiction and are first responders. The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for courthouse security, serving civil process and conducting foreclosure sales. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office supports and augments local police with specialized services such as crime scene investigation, a forensic and photography lab, K-9 narcotic, explosive, and arson detection, Search & Rescue, suspect search, bomb disposal and Emergency Response Team, to name a few.

N.J. State Constitution.

The Sheriff is elected to office for a term of three years.

Individual must be a U.S. citizen and a 3-year resident of the county for which he/she seeks election. A petition which contains the signatures of 100 registered voters from the party to be represented must be filed with the county clerk.

Civil process is handled by the Legal Services Division. All general correspondence and requests for service should be sent to the following address:

Morris County Sheriff’s Office
Legal Services Division
30 Schuyler Place - 2nd Floor
Morristown, NJ 07960

If you are delivering papers in person, please be aware that at the present time, performing an address-based location lookup using one of the third party mapping websites (provided by Google, Yahoo, MapQuest, etc.), will result in an incorrect location being shown for our building. Consult the interactive map available on the Process Services page for an accurate rendering of our location and to obtain directions.

A sheriff’s officer will make four attempts to execute the document(s), unless otherwise instructed, at which time the item will be returned to the requestor with a letter explaining why we were unable to serve it. The fee for service is not refundable.

To inquire about the status of service, you may call 973-285-6666.

No. All inquiries should be directed to the New Jersey State Police. See the NJSP website for more information. The Sheriff’s Office will, however, conduct a check for expunged arrest records for law enforcement agencies only.