CHARLESTON, W.Va.—– The new Kanawha County sheriff and chief deputy were sworn in Thursday afternoon by the Honorable Maryclaire Akers.
Joe Crawford is the new sheriff after serving three years as chief deputy. He won in the primaries in May and ran unopposed in the November election.
Crawford says if he didn’t have the three-year experience under Sheriff Mike Rutherford than he wouldn’t have felt prepared.
“Because if not, me coming in, I would have to wait till now to start, kind of putting things together and getting a feel for what I need to do,” Crawford said. “So, I’m blessed being able to have been in that position to move forward.”
During his time as chief deputy he was able to help with the startup of three major initiatives, the body cam project, the Judicial Annex project and the radio project.
He said going forward those intuitive will be the main focus to continue.
“Those are the things that we look at moving forward, there’s other intuitive that we’re looking at, that we’re excited about,” Crawford said.
Lieutenant Sean Snuffer, who is now the Chief Deputy said that this will be a big change for the department but hopefully a good one.
“It’s going to be a big change, positive change for the department I hope,” Snuffer said. “We’ve got a few ideas that we’re going to implement in the sheriff’s first term, so we’re looking forward to it, I think it will be a great change.”
Snuffer who was selected by Joe Crawford, said that he has known him for years and that he was honored to have been selected for this new role.
“I’ve known him for years, we’ve worked together in the county, he’s been at several different spots in the county,” he said. “I was honored when he asked me to serve as chief deputy.”
The ceremonial courtroom at the Kanawha County Courthouse was packed with other department officers, workers, and families.
Crawford said that he is grateful for his family and everyone that was there.
“I couldn’t have done any of this without my family, having their support, because they’re long days and there’s things that you go through on this journey that sometimes not pleasant,” Crawford said. “I think my family and the people for coming out and supporting me.”
Snuffer said that the turnout was amazing and that he is humbled.
“Yes, the turnout was remarkable, I’m humbled, there’s a lot of people here, there’s people from different agencies, families, I’ve worked with a lot of them. It was an honor to have the judges here, the county commission and other dignitaries. I was very humbled,” he said.
Crawford will be taking Mike Rutherford’s spot as Sheriff.
Rutherford says that he was honored to have the best people work under him and he believes that the department will continue to great things under Crawford.
“And I have the best group of people that you would ever want to meet, in every division, there’s five different division’s in the Sheriff’s office, and I was fortunate enough to have a little bit of sense enough to know to put the right people in the right places, they work hard and make me look good,” Rutherford said. “I can’t say enough about the people, I’m all proud of them and I’m sure they’ll continue on and do a good job.”