ELKINS, W.Va. — The City of Elkins wasted no time in finding an experienced law enforcement officer following the unexpected resignation of former Police Chief C.D. Cross last Wednesday.
Although he’ll only hold the position on an interim basis and has no interest in holding the position beyond that title, former Upshur County Commissioner J.C. Raffety brings with him more than four decades of law enforcement experience.
“I’m very humbled and honored that the City of Elkins would reach out to me to assist them,” he said.
Raffety, a Buckhannon native, has served time in Washington D.C. and in West Virginia as an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
“I traveled in the Bureau,” he said. “I covered this territory. I covered Elkins. I developed many contacts in law enforcement community and other business individuals and feel very comfortable here in Elkins.”
Former Chief Cross will remain with the Police Department at the rank of First Sergeant, but he offered no specific reason for tendering his resignation in a letter signed January 18. Raffety, who was sworn in Tuesday, took the weekend to think about whether or not he wanted his retirement from public life to be so short-lived.
“What I view it is as basically neighbor serving neighbor,” he said. “My neighbor asked me. Help for help.”
Raffety does not expect to remain Chief longer than 120 days.
“Or earlier, depending on the speed with which the council and the different committees put out the advertisement and receive responses and ultimately make some decision as to who the new chief will be after my period here of interim chief,” he said.
Raffety also served as the Buckhannon Police Chief before he ran for County Commission. He has offered his services in helping City Council select a new chief, which he believes was part of the allure in offering him the interim position.
“I would not make the selection for them,” he said. “That would be something they would do, but I can give them the benefit of my experience and guidance if they should ask.”
Referred to as “The Gentleman G-man” while serving as a federal officer, Interim Chief Raffety said the next Chief of Police in Elkins must be prepared to bring a similar mindset to the position. Elkins, he said, is a smaller city, but with a higher-than-average crime rate compared to other cities of similar size.
“People who, every day, work back and forth–or others–need to have confidence that, one, the police department treats people fairly–with dignity and with respect,” he said. “We follow the Constitution of the United States and, in this case, West Virginia. We maintain contact with the community. We listen.”
Raffety is an alumni of Prince George’s Community College, Illinois State University and the University of Pittsburgh.
He began his law enforcement career clerking for the F.B.I. in Washington, D.C.