Hanging Up the Badge

To hear Lt. Carol Smalls-Jenkins tell it, her career happened almost by accident. Smalls-Jenkins recently retired from the Beaufort Police Department after 31 years of service, but according to the Beaufort native, the job chose her, and not the other way around.

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Hanging Up the Badge

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After graduating ninth in the 1969 class of Robert Smalls High School, Smalls-Jenkins was supposed to go to college in Washington, D.C., but she convinced her parents to let her move to Philadelphia to live with an aunt before starting college.

While her stint in Philly was supposed to be a temporary stop on the way to higher education, she ended up working at a restaurant with her aunt, attending Opportunities Industrialization Center, a vocational school, and eventually landed a job with Kodak Film Processing.

She thought she would focus on typing in college since she liked to use her fingers. She also fell in love, got married and had children.

After the marriage didn't work out, Smalls-Jenkins returned home to Beaufort with her children in 1976. Her three children are now grown, with her two daughters living in Beaufort and a son in Augusta, Ga.

"I was raised to be independent and self-sufficient, and you only take handouts when you need it," said Smalls-Jenkins, who celebrated her 57th birthday July 4.

She was able to find a job as a machinist through Employment Services, but the job fell through, and no one told Smalls-Jenkins this until she showed up to the office. Desperate for work to support her children, she told Employment Services that she would be open to almost any job.

Smalls-Jenkins got a call from Employment Services saying that the Beaufort Police Department was hiring meter attendants and would she be interested. Although she had never considered a career in law enforcement, she was hired as a meter attendant/crossing guard May 9, 1977.

"I walked the beat downtown and Bay Street, issuing parking tickets to the violators," she recalled. "I was a friendly meter maid. It was a piece of cake back in the day."

RISING THROUGH THE RANKS

Three years later, Smalls-Jenkins' co-worker, Jeff Dowling, now the Police Department chief, told her about an opening for patrolmen and said he thought she would make a fine officer. After praying about it, Smalls-Jenkins discussed the opportunity with her parents.

"My dad said be sure this is what you want to do," she said. "You're going to be toting a gun and will have to arrest people. He said, 'Can you do that?' I said, 'All I need is the training. If I put my mind to it, I know I can do it.' "

She was sworn in as a Police Department patrolman in February of 1980, which led to her long, distinguished career with the police department. She still remembers making her first arrest.

"It was a public drunk arrest," she recalled. "God rest his soul, he's dead now, and I won't call his name, but he just hung out all over Beaufort. He was cussing and raising cane. I was called everything but a child of God. I just happened to drive up in the back one night on the night shift, and there he was, (urinating) on the side of the (police) building. He was asking to be arrested."

Smalls-Jenkins said she suspected the man needed a place to sleep that night and intended for it to be in jail.

"Later on in his life, in his own way, he did not apologize, but appreciated some of the things I said to him," she said. "There were times when he was hungry, and I would buy him a burger or something."

According to Smalls-Jenkins, she was promoted to corporal around 1983, promoted to sergeant in the late '80s, and in 1993, she was assigned to the juvenile unit until it disbanded in 1996. Afterwards, she became chief investigator investigating all crimes. She became director of youth services in 2003.

"She's pretty much worked in every area," said Dowling. "I was her training officer in the early '80s. She did a fantastic job in the juvenile division; that was her area. She was very good at dealing with the Department of Youth Services in Columbia, the Department of Juvenile Justice and all of the other agencies that she had to work with.

"She's turned a lot of people around, a lot of kids that were going down the wrong road in life. She's had a large impact on them, especially through the movie club."

Started in 1974 at the Breeze Theater, which is now Panini's, Smalls-Jenkins became involved in the police movie club, which screens movies for school-aged children, in 1977. She also organized a Christmas toy drive every year for underprivileged children, and not only got toys to children, but made sure she got them toys that they wanted.

"We kicked off the 34th police movie club this summer," said Smalls-Jenkins. "It gives the children the opportunity to establish a general rapport with the officers and to let them know that we're not the mean, cuff 'em and stuff 'em type. We care about people and children particularly."

One of Smalls-Jenkins' biggest accomplishments came in 2000, when she became the first female and the first black female to become lieutenant at the Police Department.

"When I took the oath that day at the Police Department, it was a very moving event, and to know that I was a part of it was even more honorable," she said. "I have to give God the praise and the honor because it's through Him that I was able to accomplish the things that I've done. I know I didn't do it on my own."

As lieutenant, Smalls-Jenkins wore many hats. She was the public relations person and did all of the media press releases, was the Family Court coordinator, supervised crossing guards, was the liaison for the departments of juvenile justice and social services, and supervised the VOICE volunteer program, where volunteers routinely call shut-ins. Despite her retirement, Smalls-Jenkins will continue to volunteer time to VOICE.

REFLECTING ON A MEANINGFUL CAREER

Smalls-Jenkins said she has always been spiritual. She is a longtime member of St. Paul Baptist Church, where she said she used to walk to Sunday school as a child.

"I've always been a praying woman," she said. "I just keep God before me, around me and ask for His protection over all of us, and I just seem to glide through with no problem."

She credits her spirituality and faith in God in helping her deal with some of the hardships of being a police officer, like when she had to respond to suicides or deal with cases of abuse of children, some resulting in fatalities. While she's had to draw her weapon, she thanks God that she's never had to fire it.

"I have no regrets," she said. "I've enjoyed it. I had a great career, and I worked with some of the best people that I can think of. I don't say that loosely. I really had some of the best people to work with across the board."

Deputy Police Chief Matt Clancy has known Smalls-Jenkins for at least 15 years. He said on a personal level, the department is going to miss her personality and cheerfulness.

"On a professional level, she made sure that the people who worked for her knew what to do, so on that level we'll keep things going," said Clancy. "She really cared about her job and the community. Instead of looking at things like a job, she really got involved with the people. She left a good legacy here, and she's had a positive impact on a lot of people."

Now that she's retired, Smalls-Jenkins plans to focus on her two home businesses: one offers insurance coverage at a minimal cost, and the other is a natural product company. She's also going to spend more time with her husband, Robert L. Jenkins Sr. They met in 1977 but lost contact with each other, only to reconnect again a few years ago at a Valentine's Day ball thrown by her father's Masonic order.

"One call led to another, and we said, 'Let's have lunch,' then let's have dinner," she said. "The next thing you know, the fire was rekindled, and the rest is history."

The pair married July 8, 2006, and recently celebrated their second anniversary. Smalls-Jenkins said she just knew it was time to retire.

"I just felt it was time to close this chapter," she said. "I think I have done all that God has ordered me to do in His way through service by way of law enforcement. It's just time to close this chapter and begin whatever is waiting for me."

Even though she's moving on, she still is reminded of the positive impact she has had on the local community, especially young people. She mentioned an incident just three weeks ago where a young man come up to her inside the Piggly Wiggly on Boundary Street.

"He told me that he remembered the things I taught him, and he was trying to stay out of trouble," she said. "I said, 'Well, if you can do that, and you've done it to this point, then I think you can continue to do it.' He said, 'Yes ma'am, I learned my lesson.' He gave me a hug, and I wished him well.

"It makes you feel good. If I just helped one kid, it's better than none."