New police chief starts in Lakewood. Here’s his experience and goals for the department

New Lakewood Police Chief Patrick Smith wants to invest in the department’s future while building trust with the Pierce County city.

Smith, the former Birmingham, Alabama, police chief, started March 1, replacing Mike Zaro, who retired in mid-February.

City manager John Caulfield announced in early February that Smith would become Lakewood’s next police chief.

“He’s going to inherit a police department that’s in a very good place and a community that’s in a good place,” Caulfield said in an interview with The News Tribune. “The expectation is that he can continue moving that forward, and I’m sure he’s going to have some new ideas and ways of doing that.”

Smith comes to Lakewood with more than 32 years of law enforcement experience, which started with the Los Angeles Police Department. He served as the captain at the Hollenbeck Division and Metropolitan Division. He managed SWAT operations, K-9 search events, mounted enforcement, dignitary protection, the underwater dive team, crime suppression that included hostage situations and active-shooting events.

Smith moved to Birmingham to be with his sister who had cancer and became the city’s police chief in 2018. Smith resigned in January 2022 to focus on personal matters, several Alabama news outlets reported.

Smith also previously served seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Smith, 59, was looking to move back to the West Coast and head a smaller department.

“I feel that I still have a lot to offer,” Smith said in an interview. “I’m still healthy enough, still have that desire within me to contribute. I think that my background and experience can help a number of officers here today.”

Lakewood police chief oversees 111 full-time employees. The department’s budget is $26.9 million for 2023.

Caulfield said “policing is policing,” regardless of a city’s size.

“He has the skill set, the attributes to be able to do that, whether it’s a city of 200 or 200,000 or a city of 63,000, such as we are here in Lakewood,” he said. Caulfield said Smith has tremendous leadership skills and is inspirational and knowledgeable.

Smith said he plans to integrate technology into policing with license-plate readers, cameras in key areas and upgraded body cameras and dash cameras. He also wants to invest in a Real Time Crime Center, which would keep watch over different areas of Lakewood at critical times. Smith set up a center in Birmingham.

One of the council’s public safety goals is to enhance law enforcement services through on-going training and new technologies. Caulfield said he and the council look forward to Smith’s proposal to ensure Lakewood is a safer community. He said a Real Time Crime Center is law enforcement business practice that has been effective in other jurisdictions in the country.

Smith said he also wants to grow the department and provide officers with good-quality training. About half of the officers are new, he said.

Smith said his first goal is to build trust and camaraderie in the department and to ensure that is serving the community.

“We always have to remember that we’re in the service industry, and our job is to serve the people of this city as best we possibly can,” Smith said.

He said the officers have offered concerns about the state’s police pursuits law, which mandate officers have probable cause to arrest someone before initiating a pursuit.

Smith said there are always laws that officers need to adapt to.

“Until something changes, we just have to learn to work smarter, we have to learn to do policing in a different manner,” he said. “It’s very disheartening for an officer to have the individual right there and allow them to flee the circumstance without any repercussions at all, because that’s generally why they become an officer: to enforce the law.”

While the Birmingham police chief, Smith said, he recognized that not every police department has the same standards.

In May 2021, almost three years after Smith was named Birmingham’s police chief, the leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge voted unanimously to express lack of confidence in Smith, due to increased crime and violence against officers. Birmingham’s mayor defended Smith.

At the time, Smith said it was a decision made by a small group, some that were no longer employed by the police department or “have a bone to pick with alternate agendas,” according to a WVTM-TV Birmingham report.

Smith said in an interview that the Birmingham police officers challenged their own union and it never went further than that.

“When I went in there, it was to make changes because there was a disconnect between the community and policing,” he said.

Smith said though homicides were up, overall crime had decreased when he was chief, which is the goal in policing.

“There were a lot of things that were accomplished significantly during my time that will set them up for great crime reduction in the future,” Smith said.

Caulfield said Smith brought up the no-confidence vote in his interview for the Lakewood position.

“The empirical evidence and the facts show that he had tremendous support from the FOP, the membership, the mayor, the city council, the community,” Caulfield said.

Smith said he had to make difficult decisions as the Birmingham police chief.

In 2019, a Birmingham police officer was arrested and charged after staging a shooting and a distress call, according to an AL.com report. This year, a police detective was sentenced to life in prison for capital murder following a 2020 “love triangle” shooting death that involved another detective, AL.com also reported. An officer was arrested and charged with first-degree rape and drug possession in 2021, according to a WVTM-TV report.

“We’re police officers, and a criminal is a criminal whether he’s wearing a uniform or if he’s wearing a hood over his head,” Smith said. “And so the law has to be enforced. It’s very unfortunate that during my time, in 18 months, six officers were arrested for various crimes ranging from rape to even murder.”

Caulfield said that he has a strong belief and accountability, which is why he resigned as Birmingham’s police chief. He added Smith had one of the best background checks he has seen in his career.

“The entrenched culture that existed within that city just didn’t align with his personal values and professional ethics,” Caulfield said. “That’s something that really stands out, how he carries himself. He’s an impressive individual.”