The City of Panama City has announced Mark Smith as the new Police Chief

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - As of Wednesday morning, there’s a new Police Chief in town.

The Panama City Police Department has announced Mark Smith as the new Chief.

Smith has worked in law enforcement full time since 1981. He’s been with the Panama City Police Department for almost 18 years. He formerly served as the Deputy Chief of Operations.

Smith comes from a long line of family that has served in law enforcement, so this career was a no brainer for him, and he is proud of his next step.

As a lifelong resident of Panama City, Smith is excited to see where serving as chief can take this community.

“To ultimately be in charge of the safety and security of this community,” Smith said. “To work with the other surrounding communities, surrounding law enforcement agencies, and provide this service that we do of upstanding the wall to make everyone safe and secure. I’m looking very much forward to continuing this process.”

Smith says a goal he has as Chief is to utilize ever-changing technology to better serve Panama City and the surrounding areas.

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