Smith announces candidacy for sheriff
Jimmy Smith has announced his candidacy for the office of Sheriff of Bradley County in 2010. “I made the decision after several months of thought and prayer. And from the full support of my family, friends and many co-workers. Throughout my life, I have always felt an obligation to serve my community,” he said.
I have dedicated 18 years of my life to serving the people of Bradley County in law enforcement. The training and experience I have received has prepared me to serve the people of Bradley County as Sheriff. “The primary job of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is to protect the people. I will provide a safe learning environment for the children of Bradley County. I will fight narcotics with the intent to wipe them out. I want the jail to be a place people don’t want to go.” said Smith.
I am presently a detective in the Criminal Investigations Division where I have worked crimes such as narcotics, burglary, homicide, crimes against persons, computer crimes and various other criminal investigations. “I have served on patrol, burglary activation team, S.W.A.T., jail, and the Gang Violence Unit,” he said.
A native of Bradley County, he graduated from Bradley Central High School in 1986. “Honor and respect for my Country led me as a young adult to join the United States Air Force in 1987” he said.
He served six months in the middle east during the Gulf War. After he returned, he attended Cleveland State Community College as a full time student while joining the Cleveland Police Department as a reserve police officer. “My love for police work prompted me to join the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office,” said Smith.
“While I was employed at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office I was assigned to the 10th Judicial Drug Task Force for a three-year period where I worked in Bradley, Polk, McMinn and Monroe Counties. “During this time I worked undercover buying narcotics. I wrote and executed search warrants, made arrests and worked together with the sheriffs and police chiefs of each county,” he said.
“I became sergeant over the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit in 1999. During this time my team seized over $3 million from drug dealers and several hundred pounds of illegal narcotics. We made hundreds of major felony cases in both state and federal courts. The team was number one in Tennessee for the seizure of methamphetamine labs for two consecutive years. We were one of the founding members of the East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force,” said Smith.
“The job of sheriff embodies the hopes of county residents for a more secure life, especially during these trying and dangerous times. Aided by technological advances, lawbreakers continually find new ways to commit crimes. The sheriff and his agency must keep up with the times and meet these new challenges, if we hope to make Bradley County safer.”
Smith said he will focus on gang activities as they attempt to move from Chattanooga to Bradley County. “To achieve this goal, I will bring together civic, education and faith-based groups to help develop a rehabilitation program directed towards the county’s inmate population and youthful offenders in an effort to reduce the drug and gang related crimes that too often plague these populations,” he said.
He said he is committed to working closely with the local communities and build strong partnerships with local, state and federal agencies in order to overcome community crime-related problems and make efficient use of taxpayers funds, increase productivity and reduce crime. “As sheriff, I will implement a Community Policing Program to partnership with the community to solve problems and reduce crime which will positively impact our neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for the entire community,” said Smith.
“I have received over 1,458 hours of specialized training in every avenue of law enforcement. I am a certified training instructor in incident response to terrorist bombings. “I believe in community policing and I feel that everyone in the community should know the officer that works their community. I feel that its important for the police and the community to trust one another. I feel that we have a good department I just want to make it a great department,” said Smith.
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