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After more than two decades policing the streets and neighborhoods of Pleasant Grove, Capt. Britt Smith is retiring from the police department. However, he isn’t retiring from his other passion — that of creating pieces of art through pottery.

Smith began his career in May 2001 with the Pleasant Grove Police Department. Now, exactly 24 years later, he is retiring from a job that he loves. Smith has worked in many capacities including patrolman, detective, patrol sergeant, investigations sergeant, patrol lieutenant, captain and interim chief.

He spent part of that time specializing in Special Victims Unit cases, investigating sex crimes and child abuse and child sexual abuse crimes.

“That’s all I did for three years,” Smith said, noting that officers are no longer asked to solely work with these types of cases for long periods because of the difficulty of dealing with them.

Other things that are difficult about the job are death investigations.

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“A police officer will see more death in their career than most people will see in three lifetimes,” Smith said. “Some are natural causes, old age, some accidental, a lot of suicides and a few homicides. Everybody’s bad day is our ordinary day at the office.”

As Smith served in the same city throughout his career, he has felt like he has shared the trauma and traumatic incidents with the community.

“You can’t drive past an intersection or through a neighborhood without thinking about what happened there,” Smith said. “You’re constantly reminded of it as you drive through town. We see the community differently. We only respond when something bad is happening. We see all the tragedy.”

Along with the difficulties of the job, there is also much good. Having positive impacts on people’s lives is something that Smith has enjoyed about police work, even when it’s as simple as recovering somebody’s stolen property and getting it back when they didn’t think they’d see again. More serious impacts that he has experienced include helping victims of domestic violence to feel safe and to start new lives while taking their abusers to jail.

Smith has helped to put pedophiles, rapists and murderers in jail for long periods of time.

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“There are people in prison to this day that I’ve helped put there and they’ll be there a long time after I retire,” he said. “It’s not that I rejoice in taking people’s freedom away, but I help the victims find justice.”

Smith had wanted to be a police officer since he was a young child and now, he has realized that dream.

Since he was a teenager, he also wanted to be a potter. He began learning pottery in high school when he was 15 years old. He married his high school sweetheart, Kirsten Smith, 30 years ago, and the two have been creating pottery together ever since.

“My pottery has been a blessing and a godsend to me through my law enforcement career,” Smith said. “It was an escape and very therapeutic to take a step back from the bad things that are happening and be able to create and make something.”

Now, he is excited to be a full-time potter alongside his wife. The two of them comprise “The Potterysmiths.” They make a variety of pieces, including dinnerware, vases, yarn bowls, ring dishes and mugs, some of which are sold at a couple of shops at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

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“Right now, I’m making a lot of custom logo mugs for businesses,” Smith said. “As our world becomes more and more technologically advanced and everything is made by machines, you can’t tell what’s fake or real anymore, and people are turning back to old ancient trades that are unique and handcrafted because they are real, not just something stamped out by a machine.”

He said he’s excited about moving on to the new chapter of his life.

“It was an honor and a privilege to serve the community of Pleasant Grove and I’m very proud of my service and grateful for the opportunity to do that, and now I’m grateful for the opportunity to pursue my other ventures,” Smith said. “I will miss the service and the feeling of satisfaction of getting to help people. And I’ll miss the camaraderie with my team and my guys. Doing a difficult job together can forge strong friendships. But, I’m ready to take a step away from all the bad news.”

For more information, check out thepotterysmiths.com or The Potterysmiths on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.