Smyth County Sheriff's Office

Field Department

Field Division 
Captain Mark Blevins supervises the Field Division. The field is comprised of 17 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 and citation equipment which allow deputies to perform numerous inquiries, entries, issue citations 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 K-9 units that are assigned to Field Operations.  Sgt Michael Lowe and K9 Abel(Blood Hound) and Cpl Brad Johnson and K9 Mags(Blood Hound) are certified to locate, follow and alert on fresh human scent which includes suspects who have walked or run away from crime scenes. Deputy Andy Selfe and K9 Han(Belgian Malinois) are certified in patrol. These dogs undergo hundreds of hours of training to effectively perform these assigned tasks.  The 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.