Is There Going To Be A New Sheriff In Town?

There are a lot of rumors and allegations and some facts blowing around Chesterfield County in Virginia about the local Sheriff’s Department. Suicides in the jail (one recent one that seems to have been suspiciously underreported), a mistakenly released criminal serving a 20-year sentence, use of prisoners to do yard work and other chores for a sheriff’s relatives (apparently documented). But the most pervasive charge is that the department is full of cronyism, and jobs and promotions are routinely handed out based on patronage and not necessarily on qualifications.

But a stranger just rode into town and he is challenging this status quo. He is Perry Demay and he is just possibly going to clean house with his commitment to bringing about a fair and impartial professionalism, based on fair recruitment and promotion, better training, and accountability to the citizens of the county. No arrogance, no pomposity, no sense of entitlement.

Mr. DeMay is challenging the incumbent County Sheriff Dennis S. Proffitt who is alleged to be emblematic of a county tradition of being part of the good ole boy’s club. If you meet DeMay you will find a motivated, courageous, open-minded, and fair cop, who is fully qualified and who is aggressively waging a fight to bring some semblance of balance and fair play to local politics. He deserves your consideration.



Democratic Party Candidate For Sheriff Perry DeMay pictured on the right

I grew up in the county; my best friend, before he was killed in the Viet Nam War, was the son of the previous County Judge D.W. Murphey (his other son in what is emblematic in the county is now Chief Judge Tom Murphey). I was regaled with stories from the then 1960’s of how the well connected in the county were optioning property ahead of the I-95 corridor through Chesterfield. How ironic that Route 288 recently had its interchange coincidently located on a local politician’s land. Whether these are merely coincidences or suggestive of insider political advantage is unknown but what is known is that the county is one party dominated, and when that happens there can be a culture of complacent mediocrity – and new ideas are not properly balanced, debated, or argued to the benefit of the populace at large.

Come November, Chesterfield voters will have an opportunity to address this and perhaps there will be a new Sheriff in town.