Editing Ashley County, Arkansas (section)

===Public safety===
The [[Ashley County Sheriff's Office]] is the primary law enforcement agency in the county. The agency is led by the Ashley County Sheriff, an official elected by countywide vote every four years. Police departments in Crossett, Hamburg, Portland and Wilmot provide law enforcement in their respective jurisdictions, with remaining municipalities contracting with the Ashley County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services.

The county is under the jurisdiction of the Ashley County District Court, a [[Arkansas District Court|local district court]].<ref name="harvp|Directory|2017|p= 30">{{harvp|"Directory"|2017|p= 30}}.</ref> Local district courts in Arkansas are courts of [[original jurisdiction]] for criminal, civil, small claims, and traffic matters.<ref name="jd" >{{cite web |author= Staff of the Arkansas Judiciary |title= Arkansas Court Structure |url= https://courts.arkansas.gov/sites/default/files/Arkansas%20Court%20Structure.pdf |date= September 2, 2014 |publisher= Arkansas Judiciary |access-date= December 26, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161223021248/https://courts.arkansas.gov/sites/default/files/Arkansas%20Court%20Structure.pdf |archive-date= December 23, 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Local district courts are presided over by an elected part-time judge who may privately practice law. The district court has two departments, Crossett and Hamburg.<ref name="harvp|Directory|2017|p= 30"/>

Superseding district court jurisdiction is the [[Arkansas Circuit Courts|10th Judicial Circuit Court]], which covers Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Desha, Drew counties. The 10th Circuit contains three circuit judges, elected to six-year terms circuitwide.<ref>{{harvp|"Directory"|2017|p= 14}}.</ref>

[[Fire protection]] is provided by twelve agencies in Ashley County, together covering the entire county except approximately {{convert|2|sqmi|sqkm}} in the Felsenthal NWR. The seven incorporated municipalities and two census-designated places each provide fire protection, in some cases extending beyond corporate limits. Rural areas are served by the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department, Milo Fire Department, or Unity Frost Prairie Fire Department.<ref>{{ cite map |author= GIS Applications Laboratory |title= Arkansas Fire Districts |year= 2019 |url=https://gislabualr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d54f8061ddaf444b8321bcaedb125d4c |format= SHP |publisher=[[Arkansas Economic Development Institute]], [[University of Arkansas at Little Rock]] |scale= Various |location= Little Rock, Arkansas |access-date= August 9, 2019 }}</ref> All fire departments in Ashley County are volunteer-based, except the Crossett Fire Department.<ref>{{ cite web |title=Ashley County Volunteer Fire Departments |url= https://oemashleycounty.weebly.com/fire-departments.html |author= Office of Emergency Management |publisher= Ashley County, Arkansas |access-date= August 9, 2019 }}</ref>