On January, 6, 1831 the General Assembly of Missouri created the new county of Monroe.  In the same year the site now occupied by Paris, Missouri was selected as the county seat.  Josephus Fox, deeded the county part of the land upon which the town of Paris was built.  The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was established in 1831 with Sheriff William Runkle being the first Sheriff in the county.
On November 19th, 1831, the county appropriated $3,100 for a courthouse and $100 for a jail.  It was completed in 1835 but was destroyed by fire 25 years later.  The present courthouse was built in 1912 at a cost of $100,000 and was completed in 1913. 
Monroe County was, and still is, mainly an agricultural community.  Today Monroe County has a population of just under 10,000 people and is approximately 646 square miles in size.  In the late 1800’s Monroe County had approximately 22,000 residents and it was reported that another 20,000 would soon be needed to take full advantage of the fertile ground and climate that was ideal for raising livestock and cash crops. 
Today the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office consists of the Sheriff, seven full-time deputies, and several reserve deputies.  We work regularly with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Park Rangers, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Monroe City Police Department, along with other state and federal agencies.  We also work with the Army Corps of Engineers and provide law enforcement services in and around the Mark Twain Lake area.  The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the county with Monroe City being the only municipality with its own police department.  The Sheriff’s Office operates and maintains the jail facility for the county.