It is a particularly sad time in Washington County as its citizens mourn the death of longtime Sheriff Thomas Smith, age 58, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The funeral for the Washington County native and former president of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association is today in Tennille.
Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department Detective Brad King, Smith’s friend for over 20 years, told the Milledgeville Union-Recorder that “the sheriff had gone through some extremely difficult struggles in his personal life, medically speaking…”
Smith earned a criminal justice degree from Georgia Southern University (then College) in 1984 and the next year, at age 24, he was named the Tennille, Ga., police chief. He became Washington County’s sheriff in 1997 and was re-elected ever since. During his time as sheriff, Smith organized the county’s first K9 unit and a Neighborhood Watch program. To promote character and responsibility, he also taught a Junior Deputy program for school-age students.
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis says Smith was “the epitome of the very best in a county sheriff.” He was widely respected, as evidenced by being elected president of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association for the 2004-2005 term. Davis says Thomas Smith will be missed not only by his immediate family and friends but by Georgia’s law enforcement family.
