BBR police chief has retired

Gil Zaccaro has hung up his spurs after a 38-year career in law enforcement - the last seven as Chief of Police at Black Butte Ranch.

Zaccaro announced his retirement quietly last week. Sergeant Dave Hall is Acting Chief while the Ranch management searches for Zaccaro's successor.

Zaccaro said that a fall and a serious head injury last winter precipitated the decision to retire. On December 22 last year, Zaccaro was patrolling alone, conducting a house check on a Ranch residence when he fell on an icy driveway, striking the back of his head on the pavement.

Essentially, he said, he had the same kind of injury that killed Natasha Richardson, the difference being that he sought treatment right away.

"I went down, and all I remember was cracking my head," the Chief said. "I had a weird tingling sensation all over my body and I thought I was paralyzed."

Zaccaro says he doesn't remember getting into his rig, but he drove himself to the fire hall at BBR.

"As soon as they saw me, they knew I was in trouble," he said.

Zaccaro was in the hospital for two days. Post-concussion complications kept him out of work for weeks.

"I tried to go back to work for four weeks and it just didn't work for me," Zaccaro said.

Part of the problem was that the fall had exacerbated problems from previous injuries, particularly a major wartime injury suffered while Zaccaro was in the Navy in Vietnam.

In 1968, Zaccaro was stationed on a troop ship just off the coast in the area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in an area designated as I Corps. he did river patrol work on the Cua Viet River. On one mission, his boat was responding to a rocket attack on a Marine Corps ammo dump on the river.

"We caught hell there," he said. "Several of my boat crew mates were blown up. I was thrown about 10 feet - just picked up and thrown by the concussion."

Zaccaro was hurt and disoriented.

"My whole body was concussed," he said. "When you're picked up and thrown by a bomb...."

He's not sure what happened next.

"I think there was enemy fire," he said. "I was totally disorientated and somebody threw me in a bunch of sandbags and laid on top of me."

Zaccaro suffered another concussion when he rolled his Jeep while off duty when another vehicle pulled out in front of him at the Three Sisters viewpoint near Plainview.

The effects of such injuries can be cumulative. The Veterans Administration, where Zaccaro was being treated for the aftereffects of the most recent injury "told me I needed to hang it up," Zaccaro said.

Zaccaro got into law enforcement as soon as he left the Navy.

"I've been in uniform since I was 19," he said.

His law enforcement career took him from rural areas to major crime units and landed him at BBR in 2002 - just a month before the Cache Mountain Fire hit.

Zaccaro's first major task as police chief was to conduct the first-ever evacuation of the Ranch, which proceeded with no injuries or damage. The Ranch was evacuated a second time due to wildfire just a couple of years later.

Aside from dealing with such crises, Zaccaro said he is proud of his department's efforts in cracking several theft cases, including the arrest of a "professional identity thief" who had been breaking into cars across the region.

Zaccaro is proud of the team at the BBR police department.

"I'd put these small town cops up against any big city cop, because they're more well-rounded," he said. "They can take a case and work it from beginning to end, which most big city cops just can't do."

He notes that "the people were very appreciative of the work we did. That was evidenced by the passage of the levy (in 2005) at 84 percent. That's unheard of."

Zaccaro says he'll miss "the crew." "It was a good seven years," he said. "It was only seven years out of 38, but it was a very good seven years."

He's adjusting to the idea of no longer being a cop, no longer having to go to work.

"I like the freedom," he said. "I miss the guys; I miss the work, but I'm getting used to it."

Zaccaro doesn't have any concrete plans for retirement - except one.

"My real plan," he said, "is I'm just going to be a Sisters character."

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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