Prince William’s first black Sheriff, Glen Hill, keeps good on his promises

For nearly 20 years, Sheriff Glendell Hill has been the top elected law-enforcement officer in Prince William County.

Hill is the first African-American to be elected to the job since the founding of the county sheriff’s office in 1731. After arriving in the area in 1968, Hill has had a long career in law enforcement. First, he worked as a Manassas police officer and later as the Prince William County Jail Superintendent.

Over the years, he’s watched Prince William County and Manassas grow from a rural community outside Washington, D.C., to the state’s second-largest jurisdiction. In that time, the county became a more colorful place.

“I noticed the change in the different cultures that came to Prince William County,” said Hill. “I recall when I was a junior superintendent, I could see the Hispanic population begin to come in. One of the first things I did was start hiring Hispanic personnel.”

In 1992, after 10 years of working in the jail administration office, Hill became the superintendent. He created a faith-based program called Men In New Directions (MIND) to help inmates respect and take better care of themselves. They learned life skills, like balancing a checkbook, starting a savings account, and making their beds daily.

“We were able to get volunteers to come into the jail to help our men that were in jail to improve their lives,” said Hill.

Shortly after that, the MIND program expanded to include women inmates. “And even today, I meet men that I meet in the community that went through that program, and they tell me how that program changed their life while they were incarcerated, and now they’re a better people,” said Hill.

Hill was stationed at Vint Hill Farms Station, an old Amry listening post, and chose to live in Manassas. A native of North Carolina and the segregated south, Hill was not surprised to see a confederate flag still hanging outside Manassas town hall, seven years before Manassas split with Prince William County and incorporated into an independent city.

However, things quickly changed. The county’s public school system had just been integrated, and more opportunities for blacks opened up as the National Capital Area grew.

“I could see the changes coming because, being a military personnel in this area, the military was getting involved with the communities to help change things,” said Hill. “And, so, when you see changes coming, you have to change with what you see coming.”

When he took over the Sheriff’s office in 2004, Hill instituted many changes. There was distrust between the Sheriff’s office and county leaders at the time.

The former Sheriff’s deputized multiple volunteers and gave them each a badge, extending the offices’s authority to a select few volunteers. The action led to questions about how the office was managed.

Once elected, Hill redesigned the badge now worn by his deputies and promised to work better with local officials and colleagues at the Prince William County Police Department, an agency separate from the Sheriff’s office.

“If you promised voters that you’re going to do something, you should always follow through with what you promise,” explained Hill. “And I promise to voters that I would bring peace and harmony to the Sheriff’s office and would have a good relationship with all the law enforcement within Prince William County.”

In recent years, the relationship with locally-elected officials has become more strained. In 2020, the Prince William County Jail Board, a panel of both elected officials and residents who oversee the operation of the county jail, voted to abolish the county’s 287(g) program, in place since 2007. Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, placed on the jail board one month before the vote, voted to abolish the program.

The program provided federal training to jail officers to identify illegal immigrants who were jail inmates. Once identified, the inmates were turned over to federal custody.

Hill and current jail superintendent Peter Meletis plead with the Board of County Supervisors to keep the program in place, touting its effectiveness. Just days after abolishing the 287(g) program, an immigrant in the U.S. illegally struck and killed a pedestrian near Manassas.

In his fifth term, Hill won’t say if he’ll run again. The Republican is up for re-election next year.

In the meantime, you’ll find him walking the halls of the courthouse, working with deputies, and at various community parades and events.

“I meet people now that I met a long time ago, and a couple of them tell me even today the experience they had, and how pleasant it was to meet me years ago, and to see me today 40 years later, that I’m still the same person that they met years ago,” said Hill.

This article was written to recognize a longtime community leader during Black History Month.