Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Last Saturday, pizza and cake were on the Nederland Police Department’s agenda. Employees of the department, the Town of Nederland and friends of Jake Smith gathered to thank him for his six and a half years as a Ned police officer and wish him well.

Smith is moving to a town outside of Portland, Oregon to take a job with a department that is looking for experienced law enforcement officers. It is a small town, but with a population of 30,000, much larger than Nederland. Smith began working for Ned when he was just out of the academy.

Since then, he has become well-known for his friendly demeanor and eagerness to take on new responsibilities such as his recent project of bike patrol.

He says, “It has been a pleasure serving this community. It was my first job and I learned a lot, but am ready to move on.”

NPD chief Paul Carrill says that Jake is “Truly the best example of what a community wants. He is well-educated, experienced and skilled at his job. He is also compassionate and empathetic. All of these qualities come with time. Since I have been here, I looked to him as an advisor. I will miss him and wish him great success.”

Currently, the NPD has four full-time police officers and seeks and is funded for another full-time officer and two part-time officers. Chief Carrill says the department is constantly training new people and with the minimum staffing it is impossible to give the maximum service.

In Carrill’s first year as the chief, he has kept a record of incidents which he says he will use to accomplish predictive policing, to see trends in seasons and assign staff duties accordingly.

“There is crime in Nederland,” says chief Carrill. “My goal is to show the rate of crime and address it.”