When Jeff Smythe began to mull his retirement as Burlington’s police chief, he realized that his departure would mean more than just the loss of his keycard and his reserved parking space in front of the police station.
“I felt that when you retire, you give up your right to complain about what’s going on,” he recalls, “and so I knew that when the time came, I’d have to step back completely.”
Smythe ultimately made good on this resolution when he gave up his post in 2021. Rather than become the P.D.’s equivalent of the quarterback-turned-sports commentator, the now 61-year-old Philadelphia native put some distance between himself and the city’s police force, and he eventually landed a state-level appointment as the head of criminal justice standards for the N.C. Department of Justice.
Smythe managed to stay off the radar for the next four years or so. His workdays were, by and large, given over to the duties of his new position, which is responsible for agency accreditation and the certification of law enforcement officers.
Meanwhile, what free time he had was generally reserved for his family. Although his kids have all left the nest, Smythe and his wife Kim still see plenty of their 28-year-old daughter Hayley, who works as an emergency dispatcher in Granville County, while their 22-year-old Jacquelin has followed in her dad’s footsteps and joined Burlington’s police force. Smythe also has a 35-year-old son Chris who lives in Maricopa County, Arizona with his wife, Debbie, and their 4-year-old son Wyatt.
It wasn’t until earlier this year that Smythe flung himself back into public life with a successful campaign for Burlington’s city council.
Even before he formally threw his hat into the ring, the city’s former police chief had an inkling of his political potential thanks to the warm reception he got from the fans at the city’s athletic stadium.
Before I filed to run in July, Kim and I went to a Sock Puppets baseball game,” he recalls, “and it was the first one I went to that summer…There were maybe a dozen or even 20 people who said ‘Hey, Jeff’ or ‘Hey, Chief,’ and it really struck me that I’ve got this constituency who remember my tenure of service and respect my character.”
This hero’s welcome was reinforced by subsequent developments, including an announcement from Burlington’s mayor Jim Butler that he wouldn’t seek another term in this year’s election. At that point, there was also no zeal for reelection among veteran councilmembers Harold Owen and Ronnie Wall, which seemed to leave the five-member council poised to lose much of its institutional knowledge and experience. Smythe figured that his eight years as the city’s police chief would go a long way toward filling the void in the city’s leadership.
“The reason I decided to run is because I knew there would be a vacuum with the mayor walking away and two council members walking away, and I thought I still had enough prior knowledge about the city that I could bring to the council.”
– Former police chief and city councilman-elect Jeff Smythe
“The reason I decided to run,” he recalls, “is because I knew there would be a vacuum with the mayor walking away and two council members walking away, and I thought I still had enough prior knowledge about the city that I could bring to the council.”
In the end, Owen wound up running for reelection, only to fall short when the city’s residents went to the polls. In the meantime, Wall took a gamble on a mayoral campaign that, likewise, failed to catch on with the voters. In both cases, the support for these long-serving municipal leaders was crushed by the “blue wave” that buoyed Democratic candidates to victory across the U.S. This partisan tsunami was even felt in Burlington’s nonpartisan municipal races, where it doomed independent candidates like Owen and Wall, although it proved more fortunate for Smythe, who is also unaffiliated with any political party.
During his time as police chief, Smythe had endeared himself to many political progressives through his overtures to minority groups that have, at times, felt shut out by the city’s leaders. Smythe acknowledges that his campaign for the council benefited from the goodwill of these same groups.
“There was an anti-establishment flavor to the election, and I think that a lot of voters were impressed by my unaffiliated status during the entire time I’ve been in North Carolina. I’m pretty moderate. I agree with Democrats on some things, and I agree with Republicans on others.”
– Former police chief and city councilman-elect Jeff Smythe
“I had support from the LGBT community, I had support from the Muslim community, and I had support from African-American churches,” he elaborates. “But there was an anti-establishment flavor to the election, and I think that a lot of voters were impressed by my unaffiliated status during the entire time I’ve been in North Carolina. I’m pretty moderate. I agree with Democrats on some things, and I agree with Republicans on others.”
Smythe believes that voters were particularly receptive to his position on property taxes, which he consistently told them are high enough as it is.
“I told folks that raising taxes is not high on my list of things to do,” he acknowledges. “I carefully deflected that the citizens have voted for bonds, and that I’m planning to make the best financial decisions to pay back those bonds. But that said, my first choice isn’t a tax increase but to look at the other options.”
Smythe confesses that he’ll have some catching up to do as he familiarizes himself with the budgetary options that the city has at its disposal. He also admits that there are other aspects of municipal government that he’ll need to dig into before he can fulfill his duties as a councilmember to his own satisfaction.
“I don’t know that there was any one thing which was clearly the main issue. A couple of people were concerned about Western Electric; a couple of people were concerned about food deserts in east Burlington; and a couple of people were concerned about housing and sidewalks. . . and nobody wanted their taxes to go up.”
– Former police chief and city councilman-elect Jeff Smythe
Smythe recalls that his conversations with voters have given him an idea of what he and his fellow councilmembers will have to confront when they get down to business.
“I don’t know that there was any one thing which was clearly the main issue,” he adds. “A couple of people were concerned about Western Electric; a couple of people were concerned about food deserts in east Bur-lington; and a couple of people were concerned about housing and sidewalks…and nobody wanted their taxes to go up.”
In any event, the former police chief says he’ll pursue this new assignment with the same professionalism and commitment to public service that he brought to his old job with the city’s police force.
“I’m not in this to please anyone,” he emphasizes. “My mission is to make the right decisions even if it makes people upset. But that is the burden of leadership.”
