Ethan Smith

Ethan Smith grew up about an hour outside of Washington, DC, and first visited Glacier National Park with his family in 2000. As soon as he got off the plane in Kalispell, he vowed to move to the Flathead Valley, and did so in 2002. Ethan has a bachelor’s degree in English and several years of journalism experience, and landed a job with the Hungry Horse News in Columbia Falls, where he spent the next couple of years photographing and writing about Glacier National Park and the Flathead Valley.

Ethan got promoted to be the editor of the Lake County Leader in Polson, and in 2006, he became a reserve deputy and worked part time for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for the next three years. He loved it so much, he decided to make it a career, and in 2009 he was hired by the Missoula Police Department.

Ethan was a patrol officer for 7 years before becoming the Crime Prevention Officer, which was responsible for a tremendous amount of public outreach in the community. In 2020, he was selected to be a detective, where he works in the general crimes division. Ethan specializes in financial crimes, including embezzlement, elder (financial) abuse, and identity theft, but handles all types of felony investigations for MPD, including suspicious death investigations and homicides. He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the Association of Certified Financial Crimes Specialists, and is working towards his certification in both organizations. Ethan also serves on the department’s Crisis Negotiation Team, and is a certified Law Enforcement Security Assessment Specialist, certified in basic Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), and a certified ALERRT trainer in civilian response to active shooters, as well as having his Instructor Development certification and Advanced POST certificate. Ethan is also a certified trainer in responsible alcohol sales and service for the MT Dept. of Revenue.

In his spare time, Ethan enjoys coaching his kids’ soccer, baseball and softball teams, and photographing wildlife in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.