The agency is responsible for law enforcement services in unincorporated areas of Sarasota County, jail facilities, and courthouse security for Florida's 12th Judicial Circuit.

[1] Florida Governor Cary A. Hardee appointed Burna Dale "Heinie" Levi as the first sheriff of Sarasota County that year on July 1, 1921.

[2] A sheriff's deputy would be arrested under charges of having assaulted an African American man named Robert Walthau with his gun and baton on October 23, 1926.

Between October 18-23, 1926 the Bob Morton Circus would help the Ku Klux Klan hold an event in Sarasota and it is possible that the deputy was encouraged by this.

He would resume his duties as sheriff in June 1929 and he would continue to serve until he lost a run-off election to Clem Pearson, a former Sarasota Police Department officer.

Boyer would win reelection election four times as a Democrat, despite Sarasota County becoming strongly Republican.

These units include:[12] The agency is responsible for providing court security for all Courthouses and Courtrooms in Sarasota County.

Bailiffs also provided security at the Clerk of Courts building as well as at the Sheriff's Office main headquarters at 2071 Ringling Blvd.

[14] A 2014 civil rights lawsuit, in the June 2012 police shooting death of Rodney Mitchell, alleged that Sheriff Knight's law enforcement policies were unconstitutional.

[15] Sergeant Chris Iorio sued the sheriff's office in 2013, claiming that Sheriff Knight retaliated against him for reporting Captain Ron Locke to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after hearing reports that Locke may have molested an underage girl during the mid-1990s.