March 15, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
The Town of Alexandria is again without a police chief at least temporarily.
On Thursday March 13, Mayor Beth Tripp issued a written reprimand of Police Chief Kenneth (K.D.) Smith and placed him on suspension without pay until a disciplinary hearing before the mayor and aldermen Thursday night, March 20 at 7 p.m. at city hall.
The mayor’s written reprimand or write-ups to go in the chief’s personnel file are based on alleged events which occurred on November 30, 2024, December 14, 2024, March 10, 2025, and March 13, 2025.
WJLE was unable to make contact with Mayor Tripp by phone for comment Saturday but Chief Smith provided WJLE with a copy of the mayor’s written reprimand as shown here which alleges as follows:
“Resident complaints on several occasions telling residents city information”
“Making workplace intolerable”
“Making workers and myself (mayor) feel unsafe. This isn’t the first time”
“I gave several warnings on your temper and voice getting loud”
“Body language shows anger”
“Not following chain of command on several occasions”
“Talked with you several times trying to get you to calm down”
“Many residents have complained to me about you”
“On Thursday, March 13 at around 3 or 3:30 p.m. the mayor came in and told me to go home for the day. About 15 minutes later I was getting ready to leave and I got called in the office to read and sign a written reprimand. I read over it. I put on it “non agreeable” because I don’t agree with the information that was written down. I initialed it and handed it back to her. I had to turn in my badge, my gun and the keys to the vehicle (patrol car) and to the department. I left the vehicle parked and I had to get an officer to get me a ride home,” said Chief Smith.
“She (mayor) suspended me without pay. I have a hearing on March 20 at 7 p.m. at city hall to determine the disciplinary action toward me. I presume that will be either to dismiss the suspension, uphold it or terminate me,” Chief Smith continued.
According to Chief Smith, the allegations are baseless and without merit.
“As far as I know I have a good rapport and good relationship with all the citizens in the town that I have had contact with and all the businesspeople. I’m the type of person that I go and sit down and talk with the businesspeople. I see people sitting on their front porch and I have stopped and talked with them. I don’t know where the citizen complaints are coming from. That’ll be something that I will address at the hearing. I am trying to build a good police department for the city, and we have a good working relationship with everybody. We’re trying to get there but this is kind of a slap in the face,” said Chief Smith.
According to Chief Smith, the police department is now left with only three part time officers. “There are no full-time officers right now. There are only part time officers trying to cover the town and there will be days between now and my hearing that there will be limited police presence. I hate that for the citizens of the town,” he said.