Sheriff
The office responsible for court security, the county jail, and service of legal documents. In Chesterfield, the separate County Police Department handles patrol and most criminal investigations.
Who holds it
Karl S. Leonard has served as Sheriff of Chesterfield County since 2014. A native of New York City, he spent more than 30 years with the Chesterfield County Police Department, retiring at the rank of Major, and also served in the Chesterfield and Richmond sheriff's offices. In parallel he had a long military career in the U.S. Coast Guard, enlisting in 1985 and retiring as a Captain in 2015; from 2010 he returned to active duty for about three years at the Pentagon, working with returning service members on their transition to civilian life before coming back to Chesterfield to run for Sheriff in 2014. As Sheriff he leads roughly 300 sworn and civilian personnel and oversees the county jail and court security for a population of more than 320,000. He is known for jail-based rehabilitation and reentry programming aimed at reducing recidivism.
What this office does
The Sheriff's Office is responsible for court security, operation of the county jail, service of legal documents (civil process), and care of offenders in custody. In Chesterfield, the separate Chesterfield County Police Department handles patrol and most criminal investigations, so the Sheriff's role centers on the courts, the jail, and process service rather than general policing.
Services residents use it for
- Court security and operations
- County jail management
- Service of legal and civil documents (subpoenas, summonses, evictions)
- Community outreach, volunteer programs, and youth summer camps
Contact
Term and next election
Virginia constitutional offices appear on the ballot as partisan races, but the county does not publish current officeholders’ party affiliations on its official pages, so we do not list one here.