To the editor: I recently celebrated 50 years of work for Arlington Public Schools and I’ve known James Herring for almost one-third of that time. He’s running for Arlington sheriff, and I am proud to support him.
Herring was an offensive lineman for the Yorktown High School football team, quite possibly the most thankless and least glamorous position in sports – and one of the most essential. Herring took on that responsibility enthusiastically.
You have to function as part of a cohesive, coordinated unit with your fellow linemen, and the only time your name is called is when the ref flags you for holding.
In the four-plus decades that I’ve been coaching football at Wakefield and Yorktown, several hundred players have passed through the program. I’ve watched James’s post-graduate progress, in particular, as he has followed dual career paths that are somewhat unusual for Yorktown graduates: law enforcement and the military.
He always was interested in public service, and he has done precisely that: serve the public.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (which Herring attended on an Army ROTC scholarship), he joined the Metropolitan Police Department and spent the next five years in D.C.’s toughest neighborhood (Ward 8) – on the midnight shift. Concurrently, he served as an infantry officer for the Virginia National Guard, and ultimately came back across the river to his hometown to become an Arlington police officer.
So he has a rare combination of experiences. He’s a street cop, dealing with people face-to-face at their most elemental level. And he has been a leader of soldiers – first as a platoon leader on an overseas deployment (which requires 24/7 attention to the performance and protection of his troops), and then as an executive officer for a 160-man light infantry unit.
Herring was always hard-working, smart, conscientious and considerate of his teammates.
When you combine those traits with the person-to-person and leadership skills he has developed over the past decade, you have an excellent candidate to lead theSheriff’s Office.
Bruce Hanson, Arlington
