Former undercover police officer Frank Cassidy and former federal special agent Pete Shephard are facing off in November for Merrimack County Sheriff.
Cassidy, the Republican candidate, is seeking office for the second time after losing by a narrow margin in 2024. Shephard, the Democratic candidate, is challenging him for the highest law enforcement authority in the county.
Both candidates have decades of law enforcement experience and ties to Merrimack County. Shephard said he prioritizes continuity and wants to build on the good work at the sheriff’s office, while Cassidy said he sees problems within the office that need addressing.
In 2024, Cassidy ran against current Merrimack County Sheriff and his former boss David Croft, whom he criticized for fostering a “hostile work environment.” Since then, Cassidy said nothing has changed at the office.
“My goal is to become elected and to bring that sheriff’s office back to what it used to be,” Cassidy said.
Shephard also worked under Croft early in his career while at the Boscawen Police Department. After he learned Croft was retiring from the county sheriff position, Shephard asked who Croft was supporting for the next election. When Croft said he did not see anyone running that he would support, Shephard felt he needed to step up and give back to his community.
“I feel like I’ve had all these great opportunities that I have a responsibility and obligation to give back,” Shephard said.
Meet the candidates
Pete Shephard grew up in Canterbury. He joined the army as a military policeman at 18 years old. In 1990, he began working at the Boscawen Police Department under then-sergeant Croft.
While at the police department, Shephard received his associate’s degree at New Hampshire Technical Institute and his bachelor’s in criminal justice from Franklin Pierce College in Rindge.
Shephard was promoted to sergeant in Boscawen, and in 2000, he became deputy sheriff at the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Shephard decided he wanted to be part of the response. He applied and became a special agent with the U.S. Department of State in 2002. He spent 17 years serving in different roles with the State Department across various countries and embassies. Some of his work included establishing a force investigation program in Iraq, managing protective security for high-profile U.S. officials in Egypt and leading security operations for Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
In 2019, Shephard transitioned into the private sector. Now, he said he wants to contribute to his home community.
Frank Cassidy served in the Marine Corps before becoming a correctional officer at the state prison in Concord and working part-time as a police officer in Loudon and Epsom.
In 1977, Cassidy became a full-time police officer in Epsom for three years before moving to Pittsfield as a supervisor and detective.
In 2002, Cassidy joined the sheriff’s office, working a range of positions before transitioning into investigations and eventually running the investigative unit. Cassidy’s time at the sheriff’s office also included 13 years as an undercover officer in the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force.
After 21 years in the sheriff’s office, Cassidy resigned in 2023. He now works at the Loudon Police Department.
Cassidy feels the sheriff’s office has taken a turn for the worse in terms of transparency and collaboration under Croft. If elected, Cassidy wants to create more structure in the office, use grants to continue to fund the drug task force and reestablish ties with other organizations.
Candidate priorities
Cassidy said his priorities include transparency, collaboration and keeping cost down.
“Obviously, I want to make that office for us that you can hold your head up again,” Cassidy said. “Transparency is huge.”
For him, transparency would start with answering questions raised by the public clearly and honestly.
“If you were to call me, I’m not going to say, ‘I have no idea. I wasn’t aware, and I’ve got nothing else to say,'” Cassidy said. “I believe everybody should be afforded a chance to defend themselves and have the matter investigated, but on the same hand, don’t hide it and don’t bury it.”
Cassidy said reestablishing ties and being cost-effective go hand in hand. While in the investigative unit at the sheriff’s office, Cassidy said he would help other agencies with training and certification. Doing so helped save those agencies money by not having to find other funding and personnel, he added.
“Collaborating with others, that’s huge, because I can take some burden off of one of the other agencies, but in turn, they can help us,” Cassidy said.
Shephard said that, coming in, he wants to build on the office’s work and try to protect the most vulnerable in his communities. He isn’t someone who goes in and “mixes things up.”
“I like continuity,” Shephard said. “My understanding is that it’s a good group over there. I would work to maintain that and build on the good work that they’re doing now.”
The sheriff’s office is primarily responsible to the courts, Shephard said, and he wants to make sure to give the courts the resources they need. In small towns, Shephard said he wants to continue to build on educational services like Law Enforcement Against Drugs and Violence and more complex investigations like the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.
Shephard said he also wants to initiate a program to focus on educating seniors who are targeted by scams by collaborating with the Attorney General, the FBI and other organizations.
“Some of these scams are really sophisticated, and it’s really awful that people work their whole lives to have a little bit of money, and then these people using these scams victimize them at the end of their lives,” he said.
Approach to law enforcement
Shephard said his approach to law enforcement is community-focused and centered around education and rehabilitation. He said he has found that the majority of people are good and just make bad decisions.
“I believe that people need to feel comfortable with their law enforcement and particularly their senior law enforcement, because the sheriff is the only elected law enforcement person,” Shephard said. “So there’s a tremendous amount of authority that’s vested in that position. You really have to be careful in how you wield that authority and to make sure that people understand that you’re there for them and for their families and their community.”
Cassidy shared a similar approach. He said he tries to treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of the circumstance.
“When I first started, I was very black and white,” he said. “I have learned over the years, discretion is huge, especially now that I’m even older. I believe in helping. And if I can steer somebody in the right direction and maybe give them a break, so to speak…” he trailed off. “It’s still documented. So, make no mistake, if it happens again, if we have a record, you’re going to have a history here. I still believe everybody should be held accountable, but to what level?”
Position on ICE
Twenty-nine law enforcement agencies across New Hampshire have signed onto 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since January 2025, including State Police and locally, the police departments in Weare, Pittsfield and Chichester. These agreements deputize local and state law enforcement agencies to carry out enforcement actions on ICE’s behalf.
The Monitor asked both sheriff candidates for their thoughts on signing a 287 (g) agreement.
Cassidy said it’s not a simple yes or no. He said he believes in ICE, but is not looking to go after illegal immigrants. Rather, he thinks a partnership would be beneficial to manage how ICE interacts with the community.
He said he has met with ICE and shared his feelings with them.
“By partnering with them, if they have somebody in your area, they’re going to say, ‘Hey, we believe we have somebody here, can we check it? Or do you want to check it?’ And I think it’s easier and quieter for us to check it versus, once again, the guys in the jeans and vests coming and doing it,” he said.
If ICE came in to make arrests, he said, “would you rather see these guys come in with masks and vests and nobody else? Or would you prefer to see a uniformed officer there that you’re familiar with that are going to keep the peace and keep them in check, if you will?”
Shephard said “absolutely not” when it comes to ICE. He penned a Letter to the Editor in the Monitor in July outlining his position as an example of leadership and transparency.
“It’s not that I don’t believe that there needs to be border control and immigration enforcement,” he told the Monitor this fall. “I used to lead agents doing passport and visa fraud. But that’s not the job of the sheriff, and I don’t believe that the people that make up the county want me to use my limited resources to go and deal with immigration issues. I don’t believe it’s a huge problem here. I think that there are many other issues that I’ve talked about that I need to use those resources for,” he said.
