Voters have decided, and come January, we will have a new Sheriff in Smith County.
It’s been over 3 decades since we’ve said anything except, Sheriff J.B. Smith.
And as he prepares to hang up the badge, Sheriff Smith sat down with us for some reminiscence and parting words for Larry Smith.
“I’ll be driving along and thinking,” he said, “ I’ve only got 5 months left, I’ve only got 3, whatever. And come to the realization that I don’t have anyplace to go anymore in the mornings.’
“I started out with 28 personnel, 55-65 prisoners. Today, 355 personnel, and bumping 1000 prisoners on a daily basis. That’s a lot of business. That’s a lot of complications.”
“I learned very quickly that all prisoners are innocent. If you don’t believe it just ask them.”
“One of the things a politician has to do is tell the people what they want to hear. The biggest thing about being a Sheriff in a county this size is not working patrol. It’s not criminal investigation. That’s not where the problems are. The problem is in a 25-million dollar budget. The problem arises with personnel problems, with dealing with the media on a daily basis. Because they want to know what you’re doing, and the public has a right to know what you’re doing. And so, that’s going to be one of the biggest challenges for the incoming new sheriff. He’s got to learn to work with people, and I think he’s going to do that.”