Detective Eric Smith

Yesterday was a sad day for the jackson police department as they mourn the lost of one of the most excellent officers to serve on the force. I know we all have mixed feelings about JPD , but besides having dirty cops but they do have a few good ones and Eric Smith was one of the good ones. So it saddens me to hear that one of the few good cops that they had was killed while interviewing a murder suspect. Authorities report that the suspect attacked detective smith inside the interview room , disarmed him and fatally shot him and then the suspect shot and killed himself.

I remember watching Facebook when the news broke , it was a little sketchy ...all we knew was that shots were fired inside JPD headquarters downtown on the third floor and a officer was down. And everyone was full of questions of how a gunman could get on the third floor as JPD headquarters went on lockdown and hundreds of cops surround the building and streets blocked off. Since the 3rd floor is highly secured actually if you were to ever enter headquarters the only floor you can get on is the first floor and first you go through a medical detector, then you sign in. And if you have business to attend to on the 3rd or 2nd floor you must wait to an officer come and get you cause only certain officers have key passes to operate the elevator to those floors.

So while we all were glued to our Facebook accounts and to the local news stations watching as cops enter the building running with guns pulled and exit the building in tears and comforting each others. We knew something wasn't right and when the EMTs went in with a stretcher but later left the building with the same stretcher but no one was on it we all feared the worse as we waited for the chef of police to come out and make a offical statement.

Eric Smith was a homicide detective, and he leaves behind a wife and two sons. His wife was also a JPD officer. Smith had testified in many of the most high profile murder cases in jackson, and he had even testified against several dirty police officers from the jackson police department. He had been with JPD since 1995 , a graduate of Calloway high school and Hinds community college. He will forever be remembered as a devoted father, husband , a man who was active in his church and wanted to make his community a better place.

The events that played out yesterday like a scene from a Hollywood movie , was a reminder to us all that ; law enforcement officers have a dangerous job. Everyday they put their lives on the line to protect us. They never know when they put that uniform on will they be coming on that night. Shootings like this make me wonder why is that the honest good cops are always the one to die while the dirty cops are still on the streets giving law enforcement officers a bad name.