A Focus on Mission Vs. an Expanded Role

Candidates' Visions for Office Differ Widely

Both come with law enforcement backgrounds and have made their homes in Prince William County for decades. They are husbands and grandfathers.

But that is where the similarities end between the men vying to become Prince William sheriff, who oversees the security of the county Judicial Center.

Incumbent Glendell Hill, 60, said he thinks the sheriff should focus on the "mission of the office," overseeing such tasks as securing the courthouse, serving summonses and transporting prisoners and mentally ill patients. His opponent, Louis Dominguez, 72, said he wants to expand the role of the office by giving deputies policing powers and creating a volunteer force of hundreds.

Hill (R) has spent 37 years working in the criminal justice field in Prince William. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army in 1969, he became the first African American to join the Manassas police. He served as the superintendent of the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center from 1993 until becoming sheriff.

When he became sheriff in 2004, Hill vowed to change the culture of the office and said recently that it's a promise he does not take lightly.

"They wanted a sheriff that was focused on the mission of the office," Hill said of voters.

Hill's predecessor, E. Lee Stoffregen III (D), was criticized for trying to add aggressive policing initiatives. Hill said that under his administration, deputies' responsibilities "complement" police officers' duties. They work together on such tasks as DUI checkpoints.

If elected, Hill said, he would continue training his management staff and improving security at the courthouse. He plans to implement Project Lifesaver, which gives bracelets to Alzheimer's and autism patients so they can be located if lost. He also hopes to create a strategic plan for the office's needs over the next four years.

"I want the Sheriff's Office not to be an ordinary office," Hill said. "I want this to be a great office."

Dominguez, an independent candidate who received the Democratic Party's endorsement, is an Army veteran and has a master's degree in business and public administration from Southeastern University in the District. He worked for the National Crime Prevention Council from 1988 to 2000 and served as a deputy in the Prince William Sheriff's Office before working as a deputy in Fauquier County, where he was a lieutenant and department spokesman.

If elected, Dominguez said, he wants the courthouse moved to a more central location to improve security and ease access. If the courthouse remains in its Manassas location, Dominguez said, he would try to improve security and create a shuttle service to ease the parking problem. He said he would also bring back the child safety and senior citizen programs that Hill eliminated.

Dominguez said he is giving voters "the opportunity to change the course of action at the Sheriff's Office from a do-nothing stance to a working sheriff who is going to be involved in making the community safer for everybody."

If addition to having deputies exercise policing powers, Dominguez said he hopes to create a volunteer force, starting with 100 people the first year and expanding to 400. The services of the Sheriff's Office would be able to expand without increasing the cost to taxpayers, he said.

"In other words, you're going to get a lot more for the buck," Dominguez said.