Say Goodbye to Lt. Smith, Tireless Cop and Provider of City Paper Story Ideas

Oh no! What will we do without Lt. Michael Smith? The 27-year MPD veteran is retiring and moving to Florida, perhaps to teach SCUBA diving. He was one of the rare DC cops who would always talk when reporters called, which was awesome on deadline but sometimes made you wonder what was wrong with his head. He’s contributed to enough CP stories to suggest we’d become strangely dependent on his reliability. I’ve called Smith at all hours of the day, rang his cell on weekends, bothered his wife at dinner time, and he always digs up what I need. My experience with Second District Acting Commander Mark Carter is more typical. I’ve called him a dozen or so times, and never gotten a call back.