Illinois police officer’s commitment to community outshines national scrutiny: 'I've become a father figure'

Since the death of George Floyd by Officer Derek Chauvin nearly a year ago, police have been the focal point of media scrutiny. Similar incidents in Louisville, Kentucky, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, led to calls for defunding the police by lawmakers in Washington, as reform bills came loudly and went away quietly without becoming codified

"I’ve become a father figure to many of them," Smith said. Several who have attended the training grew up without a father in the home, looking to him as a role model. "I never had much of a father figure either," he continued, stating that the goal of each program is to instill discipline in the students. "Of course they have resentment in the beginning, but they begin to like it," Smith quipped. Smith, a seasoned Black police officer working part time in Steger, Illinois, and full time at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, warned that the spotlight on his ranks is misguided. When the news media pushes out every policing incident that involves a Black victim, Smith said, it doesn’t help their cause. "There’s no protests when a police officer gets shot," he continued, highlighting the disparity of coverage.