GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Andrew Smith is officially calling it a career.
Monday morning, the former Green Bay Police Chief retired after 33 years in law enforcement.
Smith’s career started off as an officer in Los Angeles before becoming Green Bay’s Police Chief five years ago. It’s a career marked by a number of key events.
“There are some things that stand out…for instance the riots in 1992 in Los Angeles. That was an extraordinary time in our country. the biggest riots in the history of our country,” Smith recalled. “It was a terrible thing, but to be a part of that and have made it through that and to have become a better police department because of it…I think that’s one of the biggest [moments] of my career.”
Smith also cited 9/11 as a major moment.
“We really kind of re-geared and re-vamped things we did as police officers to help focus on fighting terrorism,” Smith told WTAQ in his last few hours at the station. “There have been a few more events here and there, a few more personal than others.”
It was those experiences, among others, that Smith says laid the ground work for his tenure as Chief. We asked him what he was most proud of on Monday.
“I think it’s just building that relationship between the police department and the community,” said Smith. “I think for chiefs nowadays in America, I think that’s really going to be the key to being successful.”
It wasn’t all success, though. The Chief bemoaned the understaffing of the police department–not because of financial concerns, but because of a lack of qualified and interested recruits.
“We’ve struggled with recruiting. There just aren’t the young men and women who want to join the police service like there used to be,” Smith told WTAQ. “It’s for a lot of reasons, including the attitude the public has towards police a lot of the time.”
Smith called incoming interim police Chief Jim Runge a “fine man” who “has a community orientation”. Runge is a retired police commander who left the force in 2018. He will serve until a permanent replacement is found.
As for Smith, he plans to stay around the area.
“We live over on the east side, kids go to school here, so we’re really happy here. We have great neighbors and it’s a safe community,” said Smith. “Part of the reason we wanted to leave Los Angeles and come to Green Bay is because it’s a safe community. So we are really happy to be here.”
Smith is originally a native of Iron Mountain, Michigan. He says he intends to spend his time visiting his 90-year-old mother in the Upper Peninsula, as well as tackling the dandelion problem in his yard.
It is expected to take several months to find a permanent replacement.
