Va. Beach Sheriff Candidates

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The race for Virginia Beach Sheriff has two very different candidates vying for the same seat:
a career police officer, against a multiple term state senator.

They were once police academy classmates, but then Senator Ken Stolle and Captain John Bell took very different paths.

Bell, a Democrat, has 33 years in law enforcement. He says he hopes those 33 years will help him overcome a lack of name recognition.

Stolle, the Republican, has served 18 very visible years in the senate and has lots of money behind him.

To date Stolle's raised $248,000 to Bell's $28,000. Both candidates sat down on Wavy News 10 Midday Thursday to discuss the campaing trail and break down some of the big issues that the new Virginia Beach Sheriff will face after taking office.

When we asked them to pinpoint a critical issue, both responses dealt with convicted inmates and how to deal with them.

"Training for inmates. We have people who are encarcerated, then coming back into our community. We need to provide them with skills and it's not being soft on crime, it's putting them in the position where there is not the need for them to re-offend," said Bell.

"The judges have heard the cases and they've decided whether these people should go on electronic encarceration or go on to jail. And for a sheriff to say I'm going to change that, you're not protecting the citizens of Virginia Beach, you're increasing the risk to Virginia Beach citizens," said Stolle.

The voters will decide on November 3rd.