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More than law enforcement

As chief deputy, Crawford headed up KCSO’s Law Enforcement Division, which includes typical law enforcement duties, courthouse security, school resource officers and warrant sweeps.

Now, he’ll add the responsibility of the:

• Tax Division
• Home Confinement Division
• Legal Process Division
• Mental Hygiene Division

Crawford said that, as chief deputy, he had been around Sheriff Mike Rutherford for the past three years while Rutherford handled these divisions.

To Crawford, good communication and personnel will be critical in his role.

“Having the right people in the right place at the right time, I think, is important,� he said.

Chief deputy

One of those people is Lt. Sean Snuffer, a 25-year KCSO veteran, who will be taking over the chief deputy position and overseeing around 100 deputies, depending on staffing levels.

“He’s earned it,� Crawford said. “I’ve never seen a worker like him.�

Snuffer has been chief of detectives since 2017. His most memorable case was the murder of Kathy Goble, who was missing for two years before her body was found in a Chesapeake backyard in 2012.

In 2015, Snuffer was part of a team that made the KCSO the records hub for all Kanawha County law enforcement agencies to make information sharing easier. For example, South Charleston Police were able to help solve a shooting in Rand through this system.

“We’re all dealing with the same people, mostly committing the same crimes,� Snuffer said. “They don’t care about jurisdictional boundaries.�

Snuffer said he’ll be open with the public.

“If anybody wants to call us [or] has any questions, we are going to be transparent. We’re going to provide as much information that we can to the public,� he said, adding that sometimes the department can’t release information to protect the rights of a defendant in a case.

Most recently, Snuffer was involved in a program to outfit every deputy and KCSO patrol vehicle with a camera.

Crawford’s priorities

For Crawford, technology like the body-worn cameras, training and recruitment, and the retention of employees are his three main focuses.

Within the past few months, around 10 people have retired, some in senior staff roles.

“Nationally, everybody is struggling to replace the retiring members and the vacancies they have,� he said.

Crawford’s career

Crawford has retired several times, with a law enforcement career that stretches from the federal level down to Eleanor in Putnam County, a place he calls his Mayberry.

Much of Crawford’s career — 29 years in fact — had been spent at the St. Albans Police Department, where he was chief for almost 10 years from 2006 to 2011 and again from 2017 to 2021.

In between, he worked as court security supervisor for federal courthouses in the Southern District of West Virginia, as an employee in the public integrity and political corruption unit of the state Attorney General’s Office, police chief in Eleanor and police chief at Yeager Airport where his dad was once chief.

“I’m the only one who can’t keep a job,� he joked.

Crawford said he thinks these opportunities have given him different perspectives and have qualified him to be sheriff.

“I don’t say that boastfully, I say that humbly because ... I’ve got opportunities that nobody else maybe got,� he said.

Smooth transition

Because he’s coming from within the KCSO, Crawford said he already has a vision for the office.

“The transition has been very, very smooth. Painless,� he said. “I think it benefits our employees and ... the citizens.�

Crawford says his motto is, “You always have to do the right thing,� and that he and his team are striving to make the KCSO better.

“This is the bottom line,� he said. “If I can’t make it better, then why am I here?�