Several law enforcement leaders are lining up behind former Gov. Mark R. Warner's bid for U.S. Senate.

Among them is Norfolk Sheriff Robert McCabe, who has a 27-year career in law enforcement. McCabe says he's supporting Warner over another former governor, Republican Jim Gilmore, because Gilmore's no-car-tax program drained dollars from public safety.

"The cuts that we sustained in order to get no car tax . . . ravaged public safety in Virginia," McCabe said.

Also backing Warner is former state police Superintendent W. Gerald Massengill, who voted for Warner's opponent for governor in 2001; Smithfield Police Chief Mark Marshall; and Garth Wheeler, chief of police at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and a former president of the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police.

Massengill said Warner's bipartisan style better suits the current needs of the state and nation.

Massengill said, "Confrontational politics, I don't think, have served out state well or served our nation well."

-- Jeff E. Schapiro