honestly, the saddest thing is the implication that it’s only at travis’ insistence (see: jedediah’s line about “no more protecting anyone, travis”) and possible threat of legal action that the hacketts even bother trying to keep others safe during each full moon.
they’re normally so eager and willing to abuse his position as sheriff to strong-arm locals and outsiders alike -- even chris, to an extent, with his email about contacting the podcast -- but when it comes to keeping people from harm, the only one actively trying (aside from chris locking himself up) is travis.
he’s spent the better part of six years influencing the locals and lying through his teeth, all for the sake of his town and its visitors. he’s had to forsake his own moral code and do some thoroughly dubious things for his family, wedged firmly beneath their proverbial thumb, in order to make them comply / cooperate and try to protect the people that wander into those woods. the most depressing part is, they only treat him well when he’s complacent and doing as they demand.
his entire existence has boiled down to how useful he is to someone, and while the idea of being able to help people is one of the most important things to him, it's become yet another thing his family's tainted by expecting his help in illegal ways.
he’s caught in a constant struggle between his loyalty to an abusive, manipulative family and his desire to keep others safe. and he’s just weak enough, just subservient enough, that the former usually wins in the end.