Howard Guard served as High Sheriff of Hertfordshire from April 2007 to April 2008. The Crimebeat Awards during his year placed a strong emphasis on organisations fighting teenage binge drinking, the rising knife and gun culture, teenage violence and bullying. The top award was won by Watford FC’s Positive Futures Programme and they received a commendation in the National Crime Beat Awards that year.

Some of the organisations he supported during the year were:

• MBA - Mentoring Basketball Association, who work with young people in Stevenage
• Ascend - who provide adult training in South Oxhey for the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged.
• The Living Room - a remarkable addiction centre in Stevenage which acheives extraordinary results
• Go Get It - who train young mentors in Watford to work with hard-to-reach young people and who are hughly successful in turning young lives around

He made over 300 official visits throughout the county which included all 48 museums in Hertfordshire.

• History of the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire
• List of past High Sheriffs of Hertfordshire