The Lafayette Parish region of south Louisiana was settled by French-speaking Acadians in the mid-1700s. The British had driven them from Nova Scotia for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the English Crown. The Acadians were joined by another group of settlers called Creoles, descendants of African, West Indian, and European pioneers. At the time of the migration, Louisiana was under Spanish rule and authorities welcomed the new settlers. Lafayette began as Petit Manchac in the mid-1700s when the immigrants flocked to the point where the Old Spanish Trail crossed the Vermilion River.

In 1840, Lafayette Parish was rocked by an abortive slave insurrection. After 1840, the attention and energy of local law enforcement personnel was focused on maintaining order among the slave population. As a consequence, many white criminals, particularly petty thieves and rustlers preying on the area’s large but poorly supervised herds of cattle, wreaked havoc on law-abiding citizens. Yet, when these criminals were brought before the parish courts, public prosecutors could rarely obtain a conviction because of the outlaws’ ability to intimidate the jurors.

The community prospered until the region was nearly destroyed by yellow fever and the Civil War. In 1881, when the railroad was extended from New Orleans to Houston, the area again prospered. The town’s name was changed to Lafayette in 1884.

Beginning with his election in 1960, Sheriff W. E. Harson instituted the Parish’s first departmentalized Sheriff’s Office. He was also the first Lafayette Sheriff to emphasize training, as he required his personnel to attend special training courses at L.S.U. Sheriff Harson also instituted the first boat patrol on the Vermilion River and the first vehicular rescue unit equipped with a resuscitator, tools and a radio. Sheriff Carlo Listi, elected in 1968, continued the progress started by Sheriff Harson, by transforming the Sheriff’s Office into one of the most efficient, best-equipped, and hardest-hitting law enforcement agencies in the state.  Sheriff Listi insisted on a constant patrol system over the entire parish as well as the most modern equipment to protect his deputies. Sheriff Listi organized P.I.L.O.T., a Police Integrated Logistical Operations Team, which gained national recognition. The purpose of P.I.L.O.T. was to afford the most efficient methods possible for rescue work and emergencies pertaining to law enforcement. Sheriff Listi maintained an “Angel of Mercy Vehicle”, an emergency rescue unit for the sole purpose of saving lives in highway accidents, fires, floods, hurricanes, and other disasters.

Sheriff Donald Breaux became sheriff in 1984 and continued the work of his predecessors. Sheriff Breaux continued to upgrade the equipment and technology of the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Breaux instituted a vehicle tracking system for his patrol vehicles to ensure efficient dispatching to calls for service, as well as becoming part of the 800 MHZ trunking system for more reliable intra- and interagency communications. Sheriff Breaux became the first Sheriff in Louisiana to have a jail nationally accredited when it received accreditation by the American Correctional Association on August 1, 1988.

Today the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office is led by Sheriff Mark T. Garber. Sheriff Garber was elected in 2015, and sworn into office on July 1, 2016.