David J. Smith is a native Texan, with the majority of his life in the spent in Dallas area.  He attended college at Howard Payne University and then North Texas State University (Now University of North Texas) before leaving college to join the Dallas Police Department in 1985.  During his early years with the Department, he returned to college to finish his degree from the University of Texas at Dallas, being conferred a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree, with a core emphasis in Criminal Justice and Computer Science.

David spent 32 years with the Dallas Police Department, holding ranks of Officer, Senior Corporal, Sergeant, and Lieutenant.  During his career, he worked in a number of assignments, including Patrol (as an officer, trainer, sergeant, and Watch Commander), Communications (as a sergeant and Lieutenant), Police Technology (as Sergeant and Lieutenant), Internal Affairs, Love Field Airport Unit Commander and Tactical Planning.  His various assignments provided opportunities to work with both ranking officers and subordinates as well as stake holders through out the community who were not members of the Department but had vested interests in its activities.

Upon his retirement from Dallas PD in 2017, he was searching for a 2^nd career and happened upon an opening for Director of Campus Safety and Security at Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, TX. TCA (enrollment about 1,500) is a Pre-K through 12, Christian school in Addison, a suburb of Dallas.  His years of experience in Law Enforcement were invaluable from a security viewpoint, but he also faced a steep learning curve as he navigated the Education Profession in general and the culture of TCA specifically.  David recently had his 8-year anniversary at TCA, where he has grown the Safety and Security Team from it’s original size of ONE, to it’s current size of 5 full time and 1 part time member.  His team provides full time coverage of the campus from 6AM – 10PM as well as on weekends as needed.