CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) -- Since recordkeeping began in the 1700s, Cumberland County hasn't had a female sheriff. Now that has changed, and abc27 has an inside look at her story.
Jody Smith started her '90s career with the office doing day-to-day tasks that only female hires were allowed to do at the time.
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"I was actually hired in 1990 as a deputy sheriff, and at that time we only had 13 full-time deputy sheriffs," said Smith.
They didn't wear proper uniforms until the early 2000s. That's when things started to change. But none of that ever bothered Smith, and it showed. The promotions kept coming.
"My final promotion [was] in 2010 to chief deputy, so I just continued to work my way up the ranks and along the way learned everything," said Smith.
By doing that she worked her way into the sheriff's chair, and on Tuesday she sat down in that chair as sheriff for the very first time -- the first-ever female sheriff of Cumberland County.
Smith, a Republican, is elected for a four-year term. Her first plan includes getting the Cumberland County sheriff's office state accredited.
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