Civil law enforcement is the original function of a Sheriff’s office. In old England the first sheriffs were selected by the King to collect taxes and that is still a substantial part of our duties today, even though the Sheriff is an elected official.
It has been said that the law is 90 percent civil and 10 percent criminal. This is, most likely, the origin of the saying, ‘possession is 9/10 of the law’ because civil law does indeed deal with people’s Real and Personal possessions

Some Things We Do Not Do

The Sheriff’s Office has the authority and duty to intervene in matters of a criminal nature. This is not true in civil matters. In order for the Sheriff’ to become involved in anything of a civil nature, he must have a court-issued document in hand that specifies certain actions that he must take on behalf of the plaintiff. The deputies of the Ector County Sheriff are not attorneys and so are not able to give any legal advice. We urge anyone with legal concerns to contact an attorney.

The Civil Office serves papers pertaining to Child Support, Divorces, Small Claims Lawsuits, Various Writs, Evictions, Garnishments, Delinquent Taxes, & Tax Sales.

The Ector County Sheriff's Office has 2 specially trained deputies that respond to persons in a mental health crisis.
The goal of these officers is to divert mental health consumers from the Criminal Justice System, when appropriate, and connect them with necessary mental health services.
Both these officers are licensed peace officers, who have successfully completed the TCLOSE  Mental Health Certification Course.

The Warrant Section consists of 2 Warrant officers.   An average of 702 warrants come into this office each month.
An average of  1,123 Warrants are served each month by a combined effort of the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, the Odessa Police Department, DPS, County Attorney Investigators, UTPB Police, OC Police and the ECISD Police, as well as Ector County warrants served by out of county and state agencies.

Warrants served range from Class ‘C’ misdemeanor to Capital Felony.

Restraining Order                     $55.00

Notice of Hearing                     $55.00

Show Cause                            $55.00

Subpoena                              $55.00

Summons                               $55.00

Precept to Serve                      $55.00

Citation by Publication               $55.00

Citation by Posting                   $25.00

Trustee Sale - Posting                $25.00

Forcible Detainer                     $55.00

Citation (District, County, Justice)  $55.00

Writ of Mandamus                      $75.00

Writ of Garnishment                   $75.00

Writ of Re-entry                      $75.00

Writ of Execution                    $100.00

Writ of Possession                   $100.00

Writ of Commitment - Civil           $100.00

Writ of Habeas Corpus                $100.00

Writ of Restitution                  $100.00

Writ of Sequestration                $100.00

Distress Warrant                     $100.00

Order of Sale                        $100.00

Please make your check or money order payable to:

   Mark Donaldson, Sheriff

   Ector County Sheriff's Office

   P.O. Box 2066

   Odessa, Texas  79760