Deputy Sheriff: 1973–1998 Smith began her career at the Sheriff's Office in 1973, working as a
matron (the former title for a female Sheriff's
Deputy) at the Santa Clara County Jail until 1976. She then became one of the first female permanent undercover
vice cops. In three years in this position, she posed as a prostitute, a vendor of stolen goods, and a drug user.
1998–2010 After Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr made a controversial decision not to prosecute on grounds of insufficient evidence in an alleged
rape of a 17-year-old in
San Jose in March 2007, Sheriff Smith declared the case "still open" and that she believed a sexual assault did occur. Carr submitted the case to the Office of the State Attorney General for review.
Fourth term: 2010–2014 In 2010,
Metro Silicon Valley credited Smith with putting the sheriff's office on a sound and efficient basis. She was re-elected in 2010. A lawsuit in 2011 claimed that Smith issued
concealed carry permits preferentially to friends and donors. In 2012, there was controversy over Smith's assigning a bodyguard to Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr., who was ultimately convicted of misuse of funds and other crimes. The bodyguard was a family friend of Shirakawa's, and the bodyguard's brother was a political advisor of Shirakawa. The bodyguard returned to his original job as a county jailer after criticism.
Fifth term: 2014–2018 In June 2014 Smith won election for a fifth term against retired Sheriff's Captain Kevin Jensen, who had been endorsed by the Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriffs' Association and the Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers' Association. On August 27, 2015, mentally-ill inmate Michael Tyree was beaten to death by three jail guards who were convicted of second-degree murder in 2017. Two inmates escaped from custody in San Jose in November 2016. Two inmates escaped from custody in Palo Alto in November 2017. On June 5, 2018, Smith ran for re-election to her sixth term against five challengers including former undersheriff John Hirokawa and Deputy Joseph LaJeunesse. Smith was re-elected.
Sixth term: 2018–2022 In 2019,
The Mercury News, San Jose Inside, and other publications uncovered evidence that
carrying a concealed weapon (CCW) permits may have been issued in a "
pay-to-play" fashion to those who donated money to her campaign reelection funds. The Santa Clara County District Attorney opened an investigation and on August 7, 2020, four individuals, including Capt. James Jensen, were indicted by a grand jury. On November 20, 2020, Undersheriff Rick Sung was also indicted. On December 14, 2021, Smith was indicted by a Santa Clara County civil grand jury on seven counts of corruption and misconduct. On March 10, 2022, Smith announced that she would retire at the end of her term in January 2023. She retired early on October 31, 2022, before the end of jury deliberations in her public corruption trial, and filed a motion to have the charges dropped, which was denied. On November 3, a special civil jury found Smith guilty of all six charges of corruption and willful misconduct, five of which were regarding CCW permits and one relating to the Sheriff's coverup of police misconduct records from an independent investigator. == Organizations ==