VIRGINIA BEACH — When Colin Stolle began working as a clerk in the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, he knew it was exactly where he wanted to be.

Almost 33 years later, he’s still there, and hopes to stick around at least another four. Stolle’s days as a clerk, however, ended long ago. After passing the state bar exam, he was hired as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney and later promoted to the second-highest position in the office. In 2013, he was elected to lead it and won reelection twice more.

Stoll hopes to clinch a fourth term. But unlike the past two election cycles, the Republican prosecutor faces an opponent: Suzanne Seidel Richmond, a Democrat and a former prosecutor, public defender and appellate lawyer who believes it’s time for a change.

Stolle said he’s not ready to leave the office he loves and has worked to strengthen. In the 12 years since he took over, it’s grown from 17 attorneys to 50. With support staff factored in, the total number of employees is about 130.

“While crime has gone down, the amount of work needed for every case has skyrocketed,” he said. “I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to keep Virginia Beach one of the safest cities in the country while the amount of workload our staff has had to take on has grown so tremendously.”

That’s mostly due to the addition of police body cameras, and the huge number of government and privately owned surveillance cameras installed throughout the city. Last year alone, Virginia Beach police submitted more than 43,000 hours of body cam footage for the office’s prosecutors to sort through, Stolle said.

He also wants to continue building on the program he began a couple of years ago to help his staff deal with the emotional toll of handling so many crimes. The Peer to Peer program has 10 staff members available to help their peers as they deal with the trauma of looking at numerous pictures and videos and hearing the stories that crime victims have to tell.

Richmond’s interest in the legal profession began while she was working as a legal assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria. She decided to pursue a law degree after that and clerked for the Roanoke Circuit Court after graduation.

Richmond said she believes the city’s top prosecutor should be more visible than Stolle has been. She said she would personally try high-profile cases and make herself accessible outside the courtroom. She added that reducing gun violence, particularly among youth, will be a top priority.

“I plan to lead from both the courtroom and the community,” she said. “I want the public to know that I will be present — showing up in court, standing beside victims and survivors, and being out in our neighborhoods, listening and engaging with the people I serve.”

Stolle called her assertion that he’s not spending enough time in the community ridiculous.

“If she thinks I’m not out there, then she’s just not paying attention,” he said. “There’s not a week that goes by that we’re not at some event.”

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/10/08/vb-commonwealths-attorney-elx/