Fresno County sheriff announces retirement. She’s been in law enforcement 42 years
Fresno County’s longtime Sheriff Margaret Mims announced Friday she will retire after 42 years in law enforcement.
“After much thought and reflection, I have decided to retire at the end of my current term as Fresno County sheriff – coroner – public administrator,” she said in a news release.
Her term ends at the end of the year, and she said she intends to continue to work hard through it. She was first elected in 2006 and has been in law enforcement since 1980.
“This decision does not come easily as I still get such satisfaction out of public service, but after 42 years, the time is right for me to retire while I am still healthy and can be active with my family,” the announcement said.
Mims was the first woman to be hired as an officer in Kerman when she first joined law enforcement. Kerman police badges changed after that from saying “policeman” to “police officer.”
She joined the sheriff’s office as a deputy in 1983 and started working her way up the ranks.
“It was important to me when I became sheriff to provide stability to the office,” Mims wrote the news release. “I have provided that stability and over the years we have worked our way through good times and tough times and become stronger as a result.”
A Republican, Mims has been at the forefront of traditionally conservative issues, and received praise for her stance on the Second Amendment.
Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig said Mims has always been available to the public, clear in communicating her stance on issues and a supporter of gun rights.
“She will go down in history as the toughest, most accessible and one of the greatest sheriff’s in Fresno County history,” Magsig said.
He also praised Mims for her response to the Creek Fire, a blaze that started in September 2020 and charred 379,895 acres.
She also stood firm during the earliest days of the pandemic, he said, saying deputies would not enforce state mandates related to COVID-19 safety.
Supervisor Sal Quintero said he did not always agree with the sheriff but they were able to agree to disagree.
“It’s a tough job and it’s hard to make everybody happy all the time,” he said.
Mims said she is endorsing assistant sheriff John Zanoni to become Fresno County’s next sheriff. The sheriff’s election will be held later this year.
Zanoni has been with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department since 1996.
Fresno sheriff’s stance on immigration
Mims has had her detractors.
The sheriff drew the ire of advocates for undocumented immigrants in 2018 after telling President Donald Trump at a roundtable meeting that California’s sanctuary state laws are a “disgrace.”
She met Trump again the next year at the Mexican border along with other central San Joaquin Valley sheriffs to discuss border security.
Gloria Hernandez, who described herself as a social justice warrior, said she decided to run a write-in campaign against Mims after her immigration stance became public in recent years.
“Not everybody’s a gang member,” Hernandez said. “There are hard-working essential workers who never committed a crime turned over to (immigration agents).”
Mims has taken criticism annually during TRUTH Act forums, when she’s required by the state to report the office’s interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ACLU of Northern California and advocates have questioned her reporting.
“I hope that the next sheriff will comply with the law and not transfer undocumented people to ICE,” Hernandez said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 11:17 AM.
