‘Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It.’
Rappahannock native Connie Compton leads law enforcement in a ‘small town’ county
At the tender age of seven, Connie Compton was already riding around in a patrol car. Not one of the cruisers you see on the roads of Rappahannock County, but a little blue pedal police car.
“I had the police car, and my brother had the re truck,” she said. “We had a long driveway, and we’d go up and down it play-acting cops and
re ghters, complete with making siren sounds.”
That was the beginning of Sheri Connie S.Compton’s storied career in law enforcement. Now, at age 53, the popular four-term sheri heads the county’s largest public safety agency, overseeing a sta of 23 sworn o cers and civilians and an annual budget just shy of $2 million, all toiling amid heightened scrutiny of the role of police in U.S. communities.
“IT WAS DIFFICULT MOVING UP through the ranks. Being the first female deputy on the force, I had to overcome many obstacles ... I was so frustrated I thought of leaving the force and becoming a firefighter. But I decided to stay on.” — Sheri Connie Compton
Born into a family with deep Rappahannock roots, Compton was the youngest of 10 children. “We lived in a house in Castleton just behind the Laurel Mills Store,” she recalled. “Growing up here was idyllic, with lots of friends and family. All of us attended Rappahannock schools.”
It was Career Day in 1985 at the high school when Compton decided to go into law enforcement.
“I met a female state trooper and knew then and there I wanted to go into law enforcement. When I graduated in 1985, I didn’t have the money to go to college,” she said. So eventually she started work in 1988 at the Rappahannock County Sheri ’s O ce (RCSO) as a communications and corrections o cer.
Climbing the ladder
On a wall in Compton’s o ce hangs a sign: “Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It.”
Within two years a er joining the force, she was promoted to patrol deputy, the rst woman to hold that position in Rappahannock County. In 2001, she was promoted to sergeant and in 2003 to lieutenant.
In 2007, she was elected sheri in a three-way race, garnering 47 percent of the vote. Compton was re-elected in 2011 with 79 percent of the vote and again in 2015 with 72 percent. She ran unopposed in 2019, receiving 97 percent of all ballots cast. Altogether, she has more than 30 years of service at RCSO, 13 of them as sheri . Of the 123 elected sheri s in Virginia, Compton is one of eight women who hold that o ce; she ranks 27th in seniority.
“It was di cult moving up through the ranks. Being the rst female deputy on the force, I had to overcome many obstacles,” she said. “At one point it was so uncomfortable, I felt I couldn’t do anything right even though I was handling calls for service, arresting more DUIs, and making more arrests than other deputies. I was so frustrated I thought of leaving the force and becoming a re ghter. But I decided to stay on.
“When Gary Settle became sheri ,” she said, “he recognized my hard work and helped shape me for the position I now am so honored to hold. I was proud to serve under a man of his caliber.” Settle went on to become Virginia State Police Superintendent.
‘Small town’ county
Growing up in Rappahannock gives Compton a window into the community that sheri s in large jurisdictions o en don’t have. She has a personal style that combines an authentic ‘down-home’ friendliness with a no-nonsense approach to law enforcement.
“I love our small community,” she said. “Its size provides a special opportunity to get to know people and build trust and a level of sensitivity as to how we do our jobs. Having that trust between the sheri ’s o ce and the citizens is key in community policing.”
“There are people out in the world today that don’t trust law enforcement. I don’t think we have that here. We don’t have many complaints about our deputies. No one is perfect, but I certainly won’t tolerate any inappropriate behavior on the force.”
Given the national discussion about policing, Foothills Forum asked Sheri Compton about race and the county’s law enforcement practices. She said her o ce has never received a complaint about racial pro ling. Compton said citizen complaints typically have been for things like o cers not being su ciently polite when writing a ticket or driving too fast when responding to a call. Under Virginia law, citizen complaints are considered personnel les and are exempt under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Compton stated that she and her deputies have discussed racial bias in policing in the past years as part of a continuing “cultural diversity” training program. She declined to comment on the trial of former Minneapolis police o cer Derek Chauvin, convicted Tuesday on three counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
The Rappahannock News has submitted a FOIA request to the Virginia State Police to obtain records subject to the Community Policing Act of 2020 to evaluate county tra c stop data. The News will report the
ndings if it is successful in obtaining the data.
Compton described the community as a big family and occasionally that leads to citizens wanting favors for minor infractions. “No sir. We have a job to do,” she said. “I was elected to enforce the law. That’s what we get paid to do.”
Community outreach
A small community also allows RCSO to provide services with a “personal touch.” Seniors who live alone can register on a checklist to be called daily. Residents who go on vacation can have their homes checked by a deputy. Commercial buildings are periodically checked. Accidental 911 calls are always followed up with a visit just to make sure the call was a mistake.
“We have a lot of elderly folks living here, many of them alone,” said Compton. “If we don’t hear from the folks who signed up on the call list every day by 11 a.m., we’ll call them, or if need be, send a deputy to check on them. We’ve found people who have fallen, broken a hip or had other trouble.”
On occasion, the sheriff herself will pick up the phone to check on people’s well-being. Compton also lectures before community groups about public safety practices or the latest consumer and internet scams, especially those targeting the county’s senior citizens.
Other community programs are sponsored by RCSO through the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Children’s Foundation (RCSCF), a nonprofit funded by individual donations and fundraising events. Programs include:
• The long-running “Shop with a Deputy” during the Christmas season, where deputies take kids shopping for gifts and a visit with Santa.
• The Jingle Bell 5K walk/run which raises funds for the RCSCF.
• Sponsorship of Camp Fantastic, a week-long camp for kids with cancer at the 4-H Center in Front Royal.
• Donations of school supplies and backpacks, as well as various coaching and athletic activities.
Compton particularly enjoys coaching kids’ softball, a sport at which she excelled during her school years. Soon the RCSO will implement “Project Lifesaver,” a voluntary program that can track individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementia-related illnesses should they become lost.
‘Stretched thin’
Unlike sheriff’s offices in more populous counties, RCSO officers often find themselves doing multiple tasks. “Everyone does a little bit of everything and we get paid a lot less money than those in other jurisdictions who only have one job,” said Compton. “Our communications staff takes 911 calls, makes the dispatches, does criminal background checks, record filing, and
answers general inquires. In other sheriff’s offices, there is a person for each of those jobs.”
“We are stretched thin,” she said. “If one deputy on patrol at night needs backup, and many times they do, the other deputy has to respond. If another call or two comes in from across the county at the same time, things can get really dicey. It’s not easy to be in two places at once.”
In serious cases, Compton may call deputies at home or seek assistance from law enforcement in a neighboring jurisdiction as she did with the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office during a highspeed chase into that county several months ago.
Teamwork helps manage the workload. “The sheriff has built a tight-knit family here,” said Lt. Janie Jenkins, division commander of RCSO’s communication center. “There’s the old saying, ‘money isn’t everything’ and when the chips are down or one of us needs help, we pitch in for each other.”
‘Empty’ guns kill people
Last year, when Rappahannock and other Virginia county supervisors were passing resolutions to designate their communities as “Second Amendment Sanctuaries,” Compton issued a statement that broadly supported the action, saying she believed a message needed to be sent to Richmond that citizens will take a stance on gun rights. “My deputies and I take an oath to uphold the Constitution and that is what we will do,” she said.
But Compton strongly believes that with gun ownership comes a high level of responsibility. Over the course of her career, she has seen a number of gunrelated accidents, including one that tragically struck her family when she was four years old.
“It was Christmas in 1972. Our extended family was gathered at my grandmother’s house and one of my older cousins had received a gun as a present,” she recalled. “As he was showing it to my brothers, he didn’t realize there was a bullet in the chamber. His finger was on the trigger. As my 15-year-old sister was walking toward me the gun went off and killed her. I remember everything that happened that night like it was yesterday. We are all still living with that horrible memory.
“‘Empty’ guns kill people, so goes the saying. I’m a firm believer in firearms training and that includes learning how to shoot responsibly. People need to know how to handle and fire a weapon before carrying it. And for a concealed weapons permit, people should attend class in person, not on a computer.”
Greatest success
When asked to name her greatest accomplishment, Compton paused. “It’s always hard to talk about yourself,” she said. “I try and stay humble. In a small jurisdiction like Rappahannock, the people that put you here, the people you serve, they have to trust you and you have to earn their trust. So, I have to say my greatest accomplishment is being able to serve the citizens of Rappahannock County in a way that promotes that trust.”
Compton said she is planning to run again in 2023. “Of course I’m going to run again. I greatly enjoy my law enforcement work as well as participating in our community programs,” she said.
Perhaps that’s why Compton’s fond of quoting her favorite action hero, Wonder Woman: “I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.”