Gov. Laura Kelly’s nominee for the new superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol talked about how he would improve morale at an agency that’s struggled with recruiting amid allegations of a toxic work environment marked by sexual harassment.
Erik Smith, formerly the assistant administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, told the Senate Confirmation Oversight Committee about the need for open communication and a consistent application of the disciplinary process.
“The tone needs to be set early and needs to be repeated often,” he said
“Communication, setting a vision and working together toward that vision is important, and that no voice should be quashed,” Smith said.
“If there are issues that need to be brought to my attention that originate at the rank and file, I expect to learn of those issues,” he said.
“Issues of concern at the lowest levels of the agency are issues of my concern.”
Smith, who grew up in Ellsworth with a 30-year career in law enforcement, also talked about the need to be “hard on problems and soft on people” when it comes to discipline.
“Everybody in the agency needs to know that problems are going to be dealt with, problems are going to be addressed seriously, but it doesn’t have to be the end of someone’s livelihood,” Smith said.
Smith breezed through his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, winning praise from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. His nomination to the position was sent to the full Senate for approval.
“We are all very much impressed with your career credentials and the awesome responsibility it is to head up the Kansas Highway Patrol,” said Senate Vice President Rick Wilborn of McPherson. “I think you’re well suited for that.”
Smith went to work as the assistant administrator for the DEA in Washington after serving as the special deputy in charge for the agency in Houston.
He was the assistant special agent in charge of the DEA in Kansas City from 2018 to 2021.
He also was a special agent for the DEA in Minneapolis from 2003 to 2008 and in Wichita from 2008 to 2011.
His career in law enforcement has spanned 30 years, mostly with the DEA and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.
He started his career in Derby as an emergency services dispatcher before going to work for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.
Smith also addressed questions about recruitment and retention, saying they are “existential threats” to the agency.
“This is a future threat as well as it is a today threat,” he said.
“Recruitment and retention is not keeping pace with retirements and resignations,” he said. “That is a sheer fact of the numbers.”
He said every employee needs to be a recruiter for the Kansas Highway Patrol.
“The best way to recruit for the agency is not to talk about the who, what, when and where we do it, but to really articulate the message why we do it,” he said.
“Why we do it is public safety and it’s public service,” he said.
Smith would replace Herman Jones, who announced his resignation earlier this year after a couple of Kansas lawmakers threatened to move the Kansas Highway Patrol from out of the control of the governor and place it under the attorney general.
Republican lawmakers had complained about staffing levels after the Highway Patrol appeared before a legislative panel last year and revealed that the number of sworn officers had dropped 15% since 2019.
They questioned whether lawsuits brought against the agency in recent years had tarnished the agency’s reputation and stymied recruiting efforts, although an internal investigation had cleared Jones in the sexual harassment case.
Jones had been named in two lawsuits, including one brought in federal court by six former and current female employees of the Kansas Highway Patrol.
A federal judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of Jones in a lawsuit brought by former and current agency employees who accused him and others of creating a hostile work environment.
U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter granted summary judgment to the state and Jones in the lawsuit brought by six former and current employees of the Kansas Highway Patrol in 2021.
