On Wednesday, Assistant Superintendent Stacy Smith took center stage, and she owned it. With sharp language and a deep command of policing protocols, Smith impressed the public during a press conference where she emphasized the importance of following the rules under the current state of emergency. But the spotlight on ASP Smith didn’t end there. At just eighteen, she joined the Belize Police Department straight out of sixth form. Seventeen years later, her dedication paid off. Just three days ago, she was promoted to Assistant Superintendent and this week, she stepped into a new role as staff officer in the Office of the Commissioner of Police. From rookie to rising leader, Smith’s journey is a testament to hard work, discipline, and a passion for public service. News Five’s Paul Lopez sat down with her to learn more about the woman behind the badge. Here’s that story.
At eighteen, most teens are thinking about college, getting their first car, or planning their next night out. But Stacy Smith had something else in mind — a badge and a calling. While her peers were exploring early adulthood, Smith was stepping into the world of law enforcement. Her goal? To serve and protect her country.
ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer
“Several factors inspired me to become a police officer, chief among them being that I have always known the import of public service and wanted to be a public servant. I have always been someone who knows the importance of discipline. In my younger years I was a brownee, a girl guide, with Ebeneezer Methodist School under the leadership my godmother Ms. Marion Paul, so that aspect, I was a prefect at school. I guess that is the school police.”
“So I would have entered in 2007. I like to tell people, throughout my policing career I worked at both extremes of the department, because in my first set of posting I was a community policing officer and I was that for about three years and just before that I worked at an operational unit, a heavily centered operational unit. So, while I was working there and throughout my years I always saw the need for us as police officers to better equip ourselves to provide a better level of service to citizens and to be confident in the way we carry out our duties.”
In 2017, life threw Assistant Superintendent Stacy Smith a curveball, a deeply personal and traumatic experience that forced her to step back from the job she loved. For a time, the uniform took a back seat as she focused on healing and spending more time at home. It was a difficult chapter, but one that revealed a different kind of strength: the courage to pause, reflect, and rebuild. She pursued an associate’s degree at Wesley Junior College in paralegal studies.
“While doing my studies, my lecturers in the persons of Miss Mckenzie and Darell Bradely, whenever they would see my script they would insist upon me that I should further my studies and not just remain at the level of a paralegal certificate.”
She spent three years in Barbados studying at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, making a lot of financial sacrifices to complete her studies there. Smith then completed two years at Norman Manley Law School, before returning to her duties as a police officer.
“With knowledge comes a certain level of confidence and you don’t take on a bombastic approach when you are confident in what you can or cannot do. So you are able to deliver what must be delivered to the people.”
“Over the years I have seen more and more women join the department. When I joined my group of squad sisters was just six, now we are taking in fifty female officers at a time, even more. The department certainly recognize that there is a need, there is a place for females within the department. I have seen over the years, most recently being placed in key positions. We have a deputy commissioner of police in the person of Ms. Bodden being a female. Unfortunately, the only thing I have not seen over the years is a female being place at the high command of an operational unit. I think there is still some little residual stigma for it, but I certainly believe with time we will move there and certainly under the command of this new commissioner who I expect to carry out the vision of the past commissioner as it relates to representation of females within the department.”
What makes a good police officer? According to Assistant Superintendent Stacy Smith, it’s not just about wearing the badge, it’s about how you carry it. Her favorite quote is, “every adversity presents an opportunity to do good”. It’s a simple but powerful reminder from a leader who’s built her career on exactly that principle. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.