Superintendent Smith has been in the NSW Police Force for 28 years. 

Prior to his new job, he served as Local Area Commander for the Monaro region, which was based in Queanbeyan.

It covered an area around the outside of the ACT and down to the Victorian border, including the Snowy Mountains. 

“I was there for four years. Prior to that I was in the Riverina as the crime manager at Wagga Wagga,” Superintendent Smith said. 

Most of his time in the force has been spent either in criminal investigation or in leadership roles.

Superintendent Smith said his main emphasis would be to ensure police recruits coming out of the Academy were high “quality police from day one.”  

“I have an interest in developing the right people for our job and making sure that the commands receive the best trained people they can get,” he said. 

He says today’s policing is all about resilience and being physically and psychologically able to cope with the demands of the job. 

“It is a very rewarding job but it is getting very complex,” he said.

“There is a steep learning curve for people starting this job these days. There is so much to know.”

He said the community had high expectations of police officers. 

“When we go into the community, people have an expectation that we will be able to respond to just about anything,” he said. 

“With that comes a lot of training about how to deal with a broad range of incidents.”

“Ultimately the NSW Police is all about community so it is important to instill in the students that they have an obligation to the community. 

“It is also important for the Police Academy to be a good citizen of Goulburn because we are one of the bigger industries in the city.” 

He said his predecessor, Superintendent Julie Middlemiss did an “outstanding job to get the place to where it is today.”

“It is in good shape; the quality of the people we are getting now is good. My job is to further enhance that,” he said. 

“Our environment changes all the time and it is my job to ensure that our training reflects what our community expects.” 

Superintendent Smith grew up in Narrabri before moving to Port Macquarie. From there, he  attended boarding school at Lismore but he calls Port Macquarie home. He graduated from the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn in 1989.

“The place has changed a great deal over those years,” he said.