The Coos County Sheriff’s Office has a difficult time retaining staff. In fact, it could be said the department is hemorrhaging deputies, losing four possibly five jailors in the last year and 11 patrol deputies in just the last seven months.

 

Sheriff Craig Zanni has publicly and variously put the blame on other area law enforcement agencies for poaching his staff, budget constraints and even the public, claiming negativity towards policing. According to some sources who obviously prefer to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, Zanni’s authoritarian leadership style engenders a culture of favoritism, nepotism, cronyism, sexism, and sycophancy that limits advancement opportunities for the rank and file.

 

To the casual observer it has been apparent that Zanni has been grooming Captain Gabe Fabrizio as his successor for some time. The latter has been tagging along with the sheriff to most public meetings for at least a couple of years. So, it came as no surprise when Fabrizio announced he was running to replace Zanni who is retiring.

 

Not surprisingly, Zanni has endorsed Fabrizio, but he has a challenger. Michael Kinnaird, an almost 19-year veteran of the sheriff’s department is taking a second stab at becoming Coos County’s top cop.

 

Kinnaird was gracious enough to sit down for an interview last spring. Before we get into why he wants to be sheriff and what he believes he can bring to the department we need to address an elephant in the room. Kinnaird is a Trumper, or he was last spring, proudly sporting a Trump Won banner on his pickup truck.

 

Even worse, for my fellow liberal progressives, he associates with Citizens Restoring Liberty folks including January 6 insurrectionist, Rod Taylor. This is a tough pill to swallow for those of us appalled by the far-right attempt to overthrow our democracy regardless if they sincerely believe the Big Lie or not. Despite all this, Kinnaird may just be the best man for the job.

 

To begin, Kinnaird admits he doesn’t know all the answers to solving the county’s ills, but he is willing to think outside of the box. For example, the jail has been limited to 48 beds because of staffing limitations for several years now. Measure 6-204 on the upcoming November ballot is a proposed tax levy to increase jail capacity to the full 150 beds. Kinnaird has a proposal to use civilian staff for noncontact positions to bring capacity up without asking the taxpayers.

 

Kinnaird also proposes being a working sheriff, by that he intends upon pulling a shift at the jail or on patrol along with his deputies to stretch budget dollars and stay in touch with the regular issues that face staff every day.

 

The Coos County Sheriff is a nonpartisan position, so personal politics aren’t supposed to matter. That said, Fabrizio touts a 20-year stint with the US Army as a Psychological Operations Specialist. PSYOPS, for those who may not know, are operations meant to influence “emotions, motives, and objective reasoning,” to the benefit of the operand without regard to the welfare of those being influenced. Personally, this is not a skill set that would first come to mind in someone I would want as a sheriff.

 

Despite our political differences I believe Kinnaird is honest and that I can trust what he tells me is truthful and I am impressed with his willingness to listen to and even embrace other points of view.

 

To date, I have never met nor spoken with Fabrizio, but I will invite him for an interview soon.