GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – It’s been a little over a year since Andrew Smith made his way from L.A. to Green Bay to take over the top cop position and there hasn’t been a dull moment since he was sworn in on February 1st, 2016.
Spending close to 30 years at the LAPD before arriving in Titletown, Chief Smith opens up about some of his first year successes and struggles in the latest episode of Green Bay Crime.
“I think one thing that maybe will have the longest impact, is settling the contract with the police officers association, working together with them to come up with new language that changes the culture of the police department and changes the way we pick people for jobs from a seniority based system, where it’s only based on seniority, to now we have a merit based system where we pick the best person for the job,” Smith said.
The struggles came recently, after an internal investigation of misconduct was launched which lead to the resignation of two officers.
Smith addressed the public and media about the situation on February 17 during a press conference at police headquarters.
“That’s very difficult. Seeing the things that were happening inside the department even though it was a very small group of officers isolated on a single watch…some of the stuff that happened was really unprofessional and shouldn’t have been happening. The fact that it went on for an extended period of time was even more disappointing,” said Smith. “People are going to be held accountable for their actions here.”
See the entire interview by clicking on the video above.
