The Spearfish Police Department announces the promotion of Lt. Collin Smith to Police Chief, effective December 22, 2024.
“After a very competitive and difficult selection process, I am pleased to make this announcement,” Public Safety Director Pat Rotert said. “I am looking forward to seeing Collin grow in this position, and I know he will do an excellent job.”
Smith said he is honored to be named the next Chief of Police in Spearfish.
“Law enforcement has always been what I’ve felt I am meant to do, and I am excited to continue to serve the Spearfish Police Department, and the City of Spearfish, in this role,” Smith said. “I give heartfelt thanks to my family, my law enforcement family, and everyone who has helped me along this journey!”
Smith got involved in law enforcement as a police cadet for the Pierre Police Department when he was in high school. He went on to study criminal justice at the University of South Dakota and worked as a park ranger for the state Game, Fish, and Parks Department in the Gettysburg and Mobridge area and part-time as a corrections officer and transport deputy for the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office. Smith then worked at the Mobridge Police Department for two years before joining the Spearfish Police Department in 2015.
In his time with the department, he has received numerous awards, recognitions, and promotions, including the 2016 Officer of the Year, 2018 South Dakota Police Chiefs’ Association and South Dakota Sheriffs’ Association Officer of the Year, and 2021 Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Award for outstanding investigative effort. He was promoted to corporal, and then police detective, in 2019, and served as a narcotics detective, gaining experience in multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency investigations, in 2021. Smith was promoted to lieutenant in 2023. He has been a police training officer, an instructor for defensive tactics and drug identification, has served as an evidence technician, and manages the patrol fleet, among other responsibilities.
Smith’s promotion fills the Chief of Police position, which has been vacant since the retirement of Curt Jacobs in 2023, and the department plans to fill the lieutenant position, which will be vacated due to Smith’s promotion, in the near future.