Along with Mayor Redbridge, 58 year old William Enfield is the only authority in Bridbury. He inherited the job of county sheriff from his father and grandfather before him and for this reason alone Bridbury’s citizens have a blind respect for his authority. He and his wife Jacky live in a modest three-roomed house above the police station, Jacky herself prepares the jail food in the unusual event of someone actually landing in the cell.

Such a person is seldom an inhabitant of Bridbury. It is usually a brigand, on the run from the urban "Charlies" with their flapping red capes, who are trying their luck out in the country where the doors are always left open. Occasionally William might grab a lanky pickpocket by the scruff of his neck, but Bridbury’s inhabitants don’t even tend to ply this honourable profession.

Only Timothy, the son of the antique merchants Harry en Jenny Darton, and John Cobham, live-in nephew of farrier Frank, sometimes drink a pint too many in the "St. George's Pub", belonging to Bobby Taylor, whereafter their boisterous singing lands them behind William’s bars to sleep off their hangover. But this is really only teasing and not serious police work. On the basis of his responsibilities for public order William has regular meetings with George Biggin the fire officer, who lives above the station with his wife Ann. This has led Jacky and Ann to become bosom friends.