As a native of Sampson County, First Sgt. Bryan Smith is ready to continue his journey as the leader of Sampson County’s branch of the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
Before the return, Smith served the N.C. State Highway Patrol Training Academy in Raleigh as a field training coordinator. Some of his duties involved coordinating rides where new troopers spent time with more experienced ones. The Clinton native is humbled about the opportunity to lead the unit. In 2018, he was promoted to first sergeant.
“This is where I was born and raised and I lived here all my life,” Smith said. “I’m humbled and it’s a privilege to be back.”
His goal is to follow the missions of North Carolina’s Highway Patrol by reducing collisions, fatalities and incidents where people are injured.
“I hope to do that not always necessarily by enforcement, but I think we can do it through educating the public about highway safety,” Smith said. “I don’t want every encounter with a trooper to be negative. Usually when you call law enforcement in general something is always wrong.
“For us it’s when you’re speeding, you get involved in a wreck, you ran out of gas or you got a flat tire,” he said. “It’s always something bad. I would like for some of these encounters to be positive.”
Smith said some of the examples of positive outreach includes golf tournaments, raising money for graduates heading to Sampson Community College (SCC), and taking children Christmas shopping.
“It’s way we can give back to the community and be a positive impact,” Smith said.
While growing up in the area, he spent a lot of time around law officers. His father was a volunteer fireman and his grandfather owned a body shop with a wrecker service.
After graduating from Clinton High School, Smith continued his education at East Carolina University. He later completed SCC’s Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) program.
Next, Smith worked part time as a telecommunicator for the local 911 Center before going to the Clinton Police Department for a short time in 1999. His journey continued with the state’s DMV Enforcement in 2000 before the North Carolina General Assembly merged the group into the Highway Patrol, in 2003. During his years as a trooper in Sampson, Smith was an instructor for SCC’s BLET program and helped students train for law enforcement. Many of the graduates have been employed by state agencies, sheriff departments and police departments.
“It’s good to be back home and work with a lot of people who helped me get started in my career,” Smith said.
(File Photo)