Amarillo Welcomes New Campus Police Officer

• By Mark Hendricks
• May 7, 2018

Lieutenant Tray Smitherman, a Certified Peace Officer with the State of Texas since 2012, is the new campus police officer for TTUHSC in Amarillo.

Smitherman joined the Texas Tech Police Department (TTPD) in November 2012 and was assigned to serve in various positions, including as a patrol officer and as a field training officer tasked with training new incoming officers.

While in the Patrol Division, Smitherman was promoted to corporal and supervised different patrol shifts. Prior to his promotion to lieutenant, Smitherman was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID), where he took on numerous criminal cases and presented them to the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office. 

Smitherman holds certifications as a Field Training Officer, a Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE), a Taser Instructor, an ASP Collapsible Baton Instructor, a basic instructor and an Expert Witness for Lubbock County District Courts as a DRE. 

Smitherman is a Lubbock native and graduated from Coronado High School. He attended Ranger College and then transferred to Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated with an associate degree in law enforcement administration and a Bachelor's of Science in criminal justice administration. In addition, he served eight years in the US Army Reserves and completed two deployments.