Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts is the longest-serving sheriff in the state. Here’s a look back on his tenure

As the newly elected sheriff for Hampton in November 1992, B.J. Roberts said he’d walked into the downtown jail certified for 135 but spilling over with about 500 inmates.

He’d become the first African-American to serve in the position and was the first African-American president for the National Sheriffs’ Association in 2010, but most recently, Roberts was deemed No. 1, or the longest serving sheriff in the state, by the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association.