Dustin Smith got the law enforcement “bug” early, going through the police academy at age 20 and starting with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on his 21st birthday.
“While some of my friends were out partying,” he said, “I was still trying to figure out how to put my uniform on.”
Some 22 years later, Smith is assistant chief of the Murphy Police Department. While he said he loves where he works, he feels called to lead the office where he started, which is why he’s seeking the Republican nomination for sheriff.
“ ‘Can you honesty retire and not regret trying to run for sheriff?’ ” Smith said his wife told him. “So I prayed about it, felt like it’s what I’m supposed to do and the rest is up to God.”
His boss today, Murphy Police Chief Justin Jacobs, has endorsed Smith in his first campaign. Smith believes there are some things lacking in the sheriff’s office, but wants to focus on his vision, which starts with three changes he believes would benefit the citizens of Cherokee County:
1. “Be a more proactive sheriff’s office.” That starts with increasing the number of patrol officers – “the backbone of the sheriff’s office, what the public sees,” he added – and expanding the number of zones in the county from 3 to 5.
Along with that, Smith said he would utilize substations in Andrews and Hiwassee Dam, significantly lowering response times to the eastern and western ends of the county and decreasing the dangers involved with high-speed pursuits emanating from Murphy.
“And we can accomplish it without even touching the budget just by restructuring the sheriff’s office,” he added.
2. Bring back the regional drug task force, only this time with a centralized database. “That’s how you make long-term narcotics investigations successful,” said Smith, who worked with the former Multi-Agency Jurisdictional Drug Task Force before it was shuttered.
“We have got to start working better with other agencies,” he added. “If we’re taking an ounce of illegal drugs a day off the street, imagine how much we’re missing?”
3. “Work on community policing,” Smith said. “Things like Shop With a Cop build rapport with the community. If kids have a good interaction with law enforcement, it stays with them for life. But bad interaction also gets taken forward.”
He added that some of the kids who once shopped with cops have grown up to become cops themselves. That’s because “we were able to reach youth and get them to see us in a different light.”
Smith said the first thing people want is to know if will you will listen to them. The second thing is they want you to explain why you did what you did.
“We work for the public,” he said, which is why “we need to put people in the right places that best fits the whole office and serves the county better.”
In other priorities, Smith said he would like to streamline the process to apply for concealed weapons permits, which has been marked by long delays. He would also move 911 Dispatch under Cherokee County Emergency Management instead of the sheriff’s office.
“The sheriff should focus on law enforcement, get back to the basics and get good at that,” he said.
Smith also promised to keep the sheriff’s budget under control.
“We’re used to following a budget in Murphy,” he said. “You don’t go back and ask for something every other month, you have to live within what is set.”
Smith is a third-generation native and lifelong resident of Cherokee County, who graduated from Murphy High School and Southwestern Community College. He and his wife, Dorothy, have a special needs child.