3 Democrats seek sheriff's nomination

Henrico voters will select the Democratic Party nominee for the Henrico Sheriff's seat during a June 11 primary. Three candidates – Harold Ford, Alisa Gregory and James Layne – are vying for the nomination and the right to face Republican nominee Bob Matson in the Nov. 5 general election. They spoke with the Citizen to detail their plans for the office.

Harold Ford
Ford served in the U.S. Marine Corps and currently serves in the Richmond City Police Department. During his time with the police, he has served as a community and environment officer, where he worked on the day-to-day operations of the community, and as a property crimes detective, where he worked with agencies throughout the city, he said.

Ford has worked with the FBI, the district attorney, the department of public utilities, the department of social services, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Marshals, he said.

He emphasized community engagement as one of his goals if elected. He would like to bring agencies together to address community issues, using the same type of approach he has as a police officer, he said. He recalled a situation in which a man had barricaded himself in a building and refused to come out until Ford arrived. Ford spoke to him, with coaching from negotiators, and the man emerged once he was sure Ford was on-site.

“Building those types of relationships in the community, it helps, and it helps all the way around,” Ford said. “To be able to walk into one of the worst neighborhoods in the city as a police officer by yourself, and you have individuals that trust you – I was at home solving homicides on my day off – People get shot, they call me, ‘Hey this is what happened, this is how they did it' – because I built that trust in the community.”

He also wants to send deputies to elementary schools to serve as reading buddies, to chaperone school trips and to serve as friends to students but also act as law enforcement officials in case of an emergencies.

Partnerships with agencies such as the Department of Public Utilities also could help reduce crime and help citizens, Ford said.

Once when he responded to a call for a homicide linked to prostitution, he asked the Richmond DPU to put up a streetlight on the corner, he said. Within three days, a streetlight was up, he said. He also went with code enforcement officials to the property owner nearby and ask that the owner trim bushes down.

Ford plans to combat recidivism by partnering with community organizations such as J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College to allow inmates to continue their education and developing a trade program with Career, Technical Education and Adult Education.
Ford also would work to boost morale in the office, he said, and establish mutual trust with employees.

Although the RISE and ORBIT programs established by current sheriff Mike Wade to rehabilitate drug-users in jail are helpful, he said, he would expand them and release the numerical results of the program. Ford also would like to screen inmates before they are released to find out what services they need.

He wants to set up programs that could help parents who can’t pay child support work to pay it rather than be incarcerated, if they meet established criteria.

Jailing such offenders "not only hurts the child, but it also hurts the taxpayers,” Ford said. “And it hurts the individual because he’s not paying his child support.”

Alisa Gregory
Gregory is the chief deputy of the Henrico Sheriff’s Office, where she has worked since 1998 after entering as a deputy at Henrico County Regional Jail East. She has been an investigator for alternative sentencing, the sergeant for jail programs and services, a lieutenant for jail programs and services, lieutenant training director, captain of administration and major of administration.

Gregory’s main areas of focus are jail overcrowding, community outreach and recruitment and retention.

Gregory hopes to form community partnerships with recovery and transition organizations such as Real Life and McShin Foundation to help divert people away from jail and help them while they are in the community, she said.

Helping inmates foster relationships, particularly with their family, while they are still incarcerated will help them transition once they leave, she said.

Gregory wants to expand the RISE and ORBIT program into the community, she said. The holistic approach to helping people that focuses on job skills, education and relationships is what drew her to Real Life and McShin, she said, and these programs help reduce recidivism.

Gregory would like to partner with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to find alternatives for non-violent offenders, work with judges to expand home electronic monitoring, drug court, weekend time and work release and continue to partner with the crisis intervention team to make sure that offenders with mental health needs get the treatment they need, according to her website. She would also establish an advisory panel to help develop a treatment plan to address the needs of female offenders.

The sheriff’s office should build on its current cooperation with county agencies such as public safety, the police and fire departments, mental health and others, Gregory said.
Gregory would audit the sheriff’s office’s contracts, she said, such as those for inmate health, food and canteen and check for room for savings.

Gregory’s website outlines her plan to establish a faith advisory commission to help inmates re-enter the community and strengthen substance abuse programs. She also would use inter-agency cooperation with the Henrico Police and Fire departments and human resources to expand the sheriff office’s applicant pool, enhance the office’s social media presence and enhance career development, according to the site.

Gregory highlighted training as a key component of retention.

“I think the succession management piece, that’s what has kept me here, in Henrico, for 21 years, because I’ve had all kinds of training opportunities, as leadership, as management," she said. "I’ve earned two degrees here, so it is, for me the ability to train and hone in my skills, that’s a quality that keeps people. I want to make sure that we keep doing that, that we keep providing those opportunities to staff to be able to grow and learn and train.

“If we ensure that we take care of our staff, our staff is going to take care of the inmates, which in turn is how we give back and take care of the community."

Wade, the current sheriff and a Republican, has endorsed Gregory, although she is now running for the Democratic nomination after briefly planning to run as a Republican.

“I’ve been a Democrat all my life. That’s my voting record,” Gregory said. “My ideals line up with the ideology of the Democratic party. I believe everyone should be treated fairly. Resources should be delved out equitably. I just could not bring myself to not stay true to who I am.”

That said, the sheriff takes on a role bigger than politics, Gregory said, and serves every member of the county.

James Layne
Layne was the Democratic nominee for the sheriff's seat four years ago, when he lost to Wade by 29 percentage points. He retired from the Capitol Police last January, concluding a career during which he served as a patrolman, shift sergeant, lieutenant-watch commander and lieutenant overseeing special operations, according to his website. He previously also served as a National Guard reservist.

Layne attended the FBI National Academy, which prepared him for leadership positions, he said.

As uniformed operation commander for the Capitol Police, he oversaw communications, three shifts, the security force and about 110 sworn officers and 40 civilian personnel for the uniformed operations section, Layne said. He prepared budgets and oversaw day-to-day operations.

Community engagement is Layne's main objective.

“My plan is to send deputies to crime prevention school so they can become certified crime prevention officers, and then they would be sent to additional training to learn how to do community engagement,” Layne said.

His program would focus on the voters, the elderly and the youth, he said. Voters could contact the sheriff’s office and request crime prevention programs. The elderly population would receive crime prevention classes, particularly for cybercrime and neighborhood contractor scams. Young people would receive mentorship to help prevent crime, he said.

Ministry outreach also is a tenet of his plan.

“We would partner with our churches in the community and have churches come in and mentor our inmate population to help promote a positive impact on their life so when they can get out, they won’t re-offend,” he said.

Churches could also help with youth mentorship, Layne said.

Layne would also like to build a drug recovery center in the east, and then one in the western part of the county if the first is successful. The programs will focus on prevention and acting proactively, he said.

To address recidivism, Layne would like to partner with Henrico County vocational schools and use the school buildings in the evenings to teach inmates vocational skills, he said. Then, people could get a job when they got out and have a lesser chance of reoffending, he said.

Although the RISE and ORBIT programs are doing well, they should be expanded into the community with drug recovery centers, Layne said.