About Us

Responsibilities

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office serves nearly 60,000 citizens spread across Lincoln County’s 579 square miles. Per capita, Lincoln County is the third largest county in South Dakota.  Canton is the county seat, and it houses our office, 911 communications, and the courthouse.  Our county is comprised of several small, medium and large sized communities that include Harrisburg, Tea, Lennox, Canton, Worthing, Fairview, Hudson, Beresford, and the southern portion of Sioux Falls.  

We contract with the City of Harrisburg for law enforcement services and provide an SRO for the Harrisburg School District.  We contract with the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office for our jail needs. We have two deputies cross deputized as Special US Marshalls that are part of the Dakota Territory Fugitive Task Force. Our office employs 32 full time employees with 28 of them being sworn deputies.  Our annual budget is approximately $5,300,000. 

The Sheriff is obligated to keep peace within the County. He must pursue all felons, execute warrants, and other processes as requested by the Court. The Sheriff shall perform all Statutory duties as required by law; and shall provide assistance to the Attorney General, the States Attorney, and the County.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to serve the citizens of Lincoln County with integrity, honor, compassion, and fairness. Our high standards, community involvement, transparency, proactiveness and commitment to public safety, allow us to provide exceptional law enforcement services to the citizens of Lincoln County.  

-Sheriff Steve Swenson