Smyth County Sheriff's Office

Field Division

Captain Mike Hounshell supervises the Field Division. The field is comprised of 15 deputies.

The field is responsible for the initial response to all calls for service within Smyth County.  Shifts of uniformed deputies patrol the county 24 hours a day. Their duties include enforcement of traffic laws, serving criminal warrants, responding to calls-for-service from the public, as well as being first responders to crimes. 

Squad cars are equipped with laptop computers which allow deputies to perform numerous inquiries, entries and reports from their vehicle.

Special Operations              

Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT)

SERT is a specialized unit of ten deputies.  They receive hours of intensive training to respond to high risk situations such as hostage situations, barricaded persons, executing search warrants on major drug cases, and high-risk warrant service. Members of this team perform their regularly assigned duties, plus attend special SERT training monthly.

Canine Units

The Smyth County Sheriff’s Office has 3 K-9 unit that are assigned to Field Operations.   Deputy Alan Morgan and Aron (German Shepherd) and Deputy Chris Paschal and Ben (German Shepherd) are certified in the search and detection of illegal narcotics.  These dogs undergo hundreds of hours of training to effectively perform these assigned tasks.  These dogs are tested and certified before they are allowed in the field.  They must be recertified every two years by the Virginia Police Work Dog Association.  

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Official site of Smyth County, Virginia
121 Bagley Circle, Suite 100, Marion, VA 24354 Phone:(276)783-3298 Fax:(276)783-9314

For technical questions about this site please contact the webmaster
Last Updated Friday, July 25, 2008