The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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June 25, 2009

State Police sergeant honored at banquet

Jackie Ayres

In 2008, State Police Sgt. Christopher Smith helped solve over 13 homicides and had a hand in more than 300 arrests and indictments.

One of those cases included an unsolved murder that occurred in Chicago in the 1980s in which a young woman was beaten and left to die.

After revisiting the case, the Chicago Police Department compiled a list of possible suspects from the unsolved crime. One name on the list was a man living in Summers County.

Smith, who transitioned from a trooper to the State Police polygraph unit in 1999, assisted Chicago PD by interviewing the suspect. Shortly into the interview process, the man confessed to killing the woman. Today he is in custody in Chicago.

Earlier this month, Smith was honored as one of the top five troopers in the West Virginia at the Trooper of the Year banquet.

He and three others were awarded the Troopers Association Achievement Award for their outstanding performance.

Smith has offered 17 years of service to the State Police, and he currently serves as one of seven in the polygraph unit.

He has conducted more than 1,700 polygraph exams and interviews since he joined the unit, and these interviews have resulted in thousands of arrests and indictments.

“It’s definitely an honor,” Smith said of the award. “It’s something I didn’t think would ever happen in my career.”

Many of the cases Smith worked on might have gone unsolved without his expertise. Most of his time is spent on cold cases and ongoing investigations.

“I enjoy my job because of the wide range of people I get to talk to and the cases I get involved in,” he said.

“I do miss the camaraderie of the field work, but it’s a very satisfying job and satisfying career.”

Smith is stationed at the Beckley detachment.

He serves the entire Troop 6 area and spends most of his time traveling to other counties and departments, assisting with child abuse, sexual assault and Internet crimes against children (child pornography) cases.

He was the only trooper from the southern part of the state honored at the awards banquet. Cpl. Fredrick L. Hammack II of Roane County was honored as Trooper of the Year.

— E-mail: jayres

@register-herald.com

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