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Isaacs seeks his fifth term
Published Saturday, August 29, 2009
Raleigh Isaacs is seeking a fifth term at the head of the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department.
The election will be held Nov. 3 at polling places across the city.
“I’m really very proud to run based on my last 16 years of service,” Isaacs said. The sheriff was approached by his deputies and others in the community and asked to run again, he said.
Isaacs initially ran for the office of sheriff after spending 23 years with the Suffolk Police Department, as well as nine years with the Norfolk Police Department. The 1993 election for sheriff initially featured several candidates he did not think were suited for the job, Isaacs said.
“They were not complementary to the law enforcement profession,” Isaacs said. “That was really my main reason — credibility within this office.”
Isaacs won that election, and the three following in 1997, 2001 and 2005. During his tenure there, he has served as the president of the Virginia Association of Local Elected Constitutional Officers, the president of the Virginia Sheriff’s Association, and received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Virginia State Police in 2002.
Isaacs claims a number of accomplishments in his time at the sheriff’s department — most notably saving money.
“One of my main focuses is to save taxpayers money,” he said.
One of Isaacs’ first moves in 1994 was to talk to the city about the possibility of hiring part-time sheriff’s deputies. He went out and recruited retired local and state police officers to work for him part-time. During the past 16 years, Isaacs estimates he’s saved more than $7 million by not having to pay benefits for the part-time deputies, in addition to money saved in training costs.
“It really is a win-win for everyone,” he said. “The city saves the money, we get the benefit of having experience.”
The department’s 24 full-time and 13 part-time employees average 34 years of law enforcement experience, Isaacs said.
In addition, Isaacs claims “practically zero turnover” in his years as sheriff, except for employees who retired from the office. He’s also instituted programs such as the scholarship program, which has given away 43 scholarships; a juvenile identification program, which provides parents with a kit to record their child’s vital information; and a gun lock safety program, which gives gun locks away free to citizens who request them.
Isaacs also boasts of coming up with the idea of turning a room in the courthouse’s inmate lockup area into two interview rooms, where attorneys can talk to their clients before they arrive in the courtroom.
“It saves the court time, it saves my bailiffs time, it cuts down costs,” Isaacs said.
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Comments
Posted by OD (anonymous) on August 30, 2009 at 7:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe the good sheriff or even C. Phillips Ferguson would like to make public the outcome of the arrest and conviction of the sherriff's son FOURTH DUI. Both men have been inolved in some very questionalbe legal situations, where there are many questions and no answers, or the investigation and trial were kept hush hush as to protect the good sheriff''s family and reputation.I would think that 4 DUI's would generate prison time for any citizen, but not in this case WHY and if not WHY
Posted by KNRMCO (anonymous) on August 30, 2009 at 7:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! they don't print the relevant info to the citizens, but they did print abt 2 sistters (unwed) who gave birth on the same day! Didn't that story give you a warm & fuzzy feeling? I know that the sheriff didn't get arrested for 4(!!?) unbelievable DUI"S, however, if his son did then he should not receive preferential treatment and he should serve time like everyone else who would have been charged with that many DUI's. Would you or I have gotten "off" so easily? I dare say no, we probably would not have gotten past the 2nd one without jail time.
Posted by batman (anonymous) on August 30, 2009 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's got 10 on your side written all over it,this guy has gotten by with alot more then 4 dui's.I never heard anything else about the case after he ran into the flower shop.
Posted by OD (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 11:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Raleigh H. Isaacs Sr., Sheriff
City of Suffolk
risaacs@city.suffolk.va.us
PO Box 1632
Suffolk, VA� 23439-1632
757-923-2200
FAX 757-539-5852
Send any of your questions you my have to the above and ask will he respond. He has announced his runnning now and he should be open to any and all questions that directly are related to his running.
Posted by 1_Concerned_Suffolkian (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 7:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I find it interesting that Raleigh is even running again. I hope this time he doesn't make the mistake he made in 2005 and use his office to raise more money for his own re-election campaign then he does for charity. http://link757.com/node/87441
The part time deputies program he is so proud of that saved seven million in sixteen years, it is a part of Virginia Law. It puts a cap on the amount the part time deputies may receive.http://law.justia.com/virginia/codes/toc1502000/15.2-1609.9.html
As for the Gun locks he is so proud to give away. They come from a federal program, Project ChildSafe. http://www.ltgov.virginia.gov/news/viewA...
The "Juvenile Identification Program" is not Isaacs either. It is also a federal program that has House backing and FBI Support. It is a packet given away at everything from baseball games to church functions. Unless our worthy reporter misprinted the name Isaacs uses for "his" program (this is not an attack on any of the staff of the News Herald by the way) Isaacs couldn't even market the program well. A Google search for the exact title above yielded only this article.
The 43 scholarships Isaacs awarded weren't from his doing either. They come from the Virginia Sheriffs Institute. http://vasheriffsinstitute.org/2009/06/1...
What exactly does Isaacs have to be proud of in his record? Oh yes! As other posters have already mentioned, he got his son off the hook for 4 DUI's.
Posted by gallahad (anonymous) on August 31, 2009 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The good old boy network is and has been in effect for the sheriff for many years. The constitutional officers of our city run together like protective brothers-watching each others back and helping to bury those pesky closet skeletons[ such as raleigh jrs multiple dui offenses which date back much much further than most realize ]. Perhaps the good sheriff should do more to be recognized as a servant of the people by atleast attempting to be seen as a sheriff and not just another politician whose moral compass seems defective. The office of sheriff dates back many hundred years and is the foundation upon which american law enforcement was founded-but when the wearer of the badge displays it for personal gain and not the honor of the office it represents --it's time for a change.
Posted by pumpn_fe (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In case you don't know, here are a few little known details of the Suffolk Sheriff's Office.
1. It is NOT a 24 hour department. Could you imagine if our fire or police operated for the 8-10 hours a day the Sheriff's office does? They don't work weekends either. They are the only Sheriff's office in Hampton Roads that operates this way.
2. It is a club for retired Suffolk Police Officers. Their duties are kept to a minimum to keep them happy. They collect their pension and are still able to work a (most of them) a full time job.
3. Their sole responsibility is courthouse security and prisoner transport. Many of the jobs they should be doing are left up to an already stretched thin police department.
4. The Suffolk jail is privately owned so they don't even fulfill that role.
There are more issues at hand but those are just a few glaring inadequecies.
I don't believe that his son's plight should reflect in any way on his campaign. Most families have a black sheep of some sort. I believe that the half-@$$ way he runs his "office" is what should have him voted out.
Posted by pumpn_fe (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 4:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
CORRECTION: Civil process should be added to their list of responsibilities.
Posted by OD (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 4:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No what should matter is how he has covered up his sons legal problems, and no court records being released showing he has even been tried or convicted, It was discussed to see IF it could be made to go away. Why is the sheriff mum. Is he stupid to think that many hve forgotten? He needs to withdraw, quit and stay home.VOAI...
Posted by OD (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 5:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
1st DUI Offense
First Drunk Driving Conviction
The first time you are arrested and convicted of drunk driving in the State of Virginia you will receive a minimum fine of $250 and your drivers license will be suspended for 1 year. If you were driving with a child under the age of 17 at the time of your arrest, you will serve a minimum 5 day jail term. You will also face additional fines ranging from $500-$1,000. If your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was between .15 and .20 at the time of arrest you will receive a mandatory minimum 5 days in jail. If your BAC was between .20 or higher, you will receive a minimum mandatory 10 days in jail.
2nd DUI Offense
Second Drunk Driving Conviction
The second time you are arrested for a DUI in Virginia you will receive a mandatory minimum fine of $500. Your drivers license will be revoked for 3 years and you could serve up to 1 year in jail. On your second DUI you will serve a mandatory minimum of 10 days in jail if it was within 10 years of the first. If the DUI was within 5 years of the first you will spend a mandatory minimum of 20 days in jail. If you were driving with a child under the age of 17 at the time of your second arrest, you will be ordered to do 80 hours of community service in addition to other fines and jail time. You will also be ordered to install an ignition interlock device installed on every vehicle you own, co-own or operate as a condition of restricted driving privileges or full restoration of your driving privileges.
3rd DUI Offense
Third Drunk Driving Conviction
The 3rd arrest and conviction for drunk driving in the State of Virginia within a 10 year period is considered a felony. You will receive a mandatory minimum indefinite drivers license revocation. You will also be fined a mandatory minimum $1,000. You will also be ordered to install an ignition interlock device installed on every vehicle you own, co-own or operate as a condition of restricted driving privileges or full restoration of your driving privileges if the court allows. If the 3rd offense was within 5 years you will face a mandatory minimum of 6 months in jail and a permanent forfeiture of your vehicle. If the 3rd offense was within 10 years you will receive a mandatory minimum 90 days in jail. and a permanent forfeiture of your vehicle.
Posted by gallahad (anonymous) on September 1, 2009 at 10:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Im sure the good sheriff would have no problem making the entire pay plan of his office available for public viewing especially that of the "part time deputies" or retired police officers as an earlier blogger said. Im sure there is a good reason retired police officers desire to be employed by the Sheriffs office, his chief deputy is one. The people of suffolk probably just mis-understand how the sheriff operates, how wrong are we to assume that there is fire behind that wall of smoke. The sad thing is that im sure most of the men and women who work for the sheriffs office do an excellent job inspite of breathing in all of that smoke.Perhaps Mr.Clason has a good chance or little chance to win-we know so little about him or his intentions and his track record is limited in this area. Time will tell how things turn out but atleast he has produced no smoke up to this point. As I said I'm sure the sheriff will clear up all "mis-understandings" and make open all goings on of his office. There are public records and if all the information makes it into those records all questions should be cleared up in no time, im sure of it.
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