By Randy Capps
For some people, finding the right career path takes soul searching and a few swings and misses in different jobs.
Others, like James Grady, chart a course early, grab a good career opportunity and turn it into a lifetime’s worth of fulfillment.
Grady, a captain with the Smithfield Police Department, grew up in Clayton, joined the department in Smithfield in 1998 and has spent the years since then doing what he loves to do.
It’s that service that has earned him the Johnston Now Honors Distinguished Police Officer Award.
“When I was younger, I just felt the need to help people,” he said. “I think everybody that has a job, they know that’s the job for them. Some people, it takes a little bit longer to figure out. Some don’t. But for some reason, just when I was younger, I knew that I wanted to help people, and that’s really why I got into it.”
The landscape of the county looked a bit different in the late 90s, and Grady wanted to be in the heart of it.
“Smithfield was actually the hub of Johnston County,” he said. “If you wanted to come shopping or wanted to do anything, you had to come to Smithfield. And when I got into law enforcement, I had a lot of friends in the National Guard that were police officers, and I had several of them try to get me on Smithfield. It wasn’t like it is now. Back then, you pretty much had to know somebody to get on because you may have one position, but you could have 100 applicants.”
He had to wait a bit, working at Duke University, until he finally got the call to work in Smithfield.
As the town and county have evolved, so have Grady’s duties.
“Once you have a city that grows, of course, you have different personalities, you have different cultures coming in,” he said. “You have a lot of stuff. You have people from all over the world moving to Smithfield. So with that, you have to adapt and change with your community.”
These days, as captain, his role with the police department is administrative.
“I handle a lot of the logistical functions of the agency,” he said. “I do all the background stuff, like uniforms, police vehicles, getting outfits — if anything breaks, I fix it.
“There’s a lot like just dealing with the public in general. We have a lot of businesses that we have to deal with, and that’s where I’ve made my contacts over all these years because I’ve been here so long. I’m the person that they come to to kind of get things or if they need anything from the agency. And I try to help them out with what I can.”
His latest logistical feat involved the effort to close Market Street for the Ham and Yam Festival.
“Closing any main roadway is kind of a big feat in itself,” he said. “Because people have to remember the DOT (Department of Transportation) owns the roadway and they’re only going to let you do so much. And they have a lot of things they have to look at. They have to look at the traffic flow, the patterns, the days of the week.
“That’s a lot of the stuff in the background that people don’t realize. They say, ‘it’s simple. You just walk out there, you throw some cones down and you change it.’ No, that’s not how it is, because DOT doesn’t see it that way.”
According to the nomination for this award from the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation, the effort was a success.
“His strategic planning and communication were evident in the smooth coordination of officers, who were not only informed and prepared but also able to assist the public with professionalism and friendliness, despite not being event organizers themselves. His attention to detail — from traffic redirection and control to ensuring a visible and approachable presence throughout the event — contributed to one of the most successful and well-managed festivals in the event’s history,” the nomination said.
Events like the Ham and Yam are important, Grady believes, in building the bond between police officers and the people they serve.
“We’re able to see a whole lot of people that we wouldn’t normally see day to day,” he said. “A lot of our people are out directing traffic, but we still have some on the inside, you know, walking around. We also have a booth for the Ham and Yam as well. And I think it’s a good opportunity for the community to meet police officers because a lot of times people have never interacted with a police officer (in a normal way).”
Grady is planning to retire next year, and he has some simple advice for anyone considering a career in police work.
“Do it because you want to do it. Don’t do it for the money,” he said. “Don’t do it for any other reason other than you. Just you. Because you love doing police work and it’s something you want to do. It’s a good job, and you can help a lot of people.
“Just looking back, I know it was never about the money. It was about helping people. … When you can change somebody else’s life, that makes a difference. A kid came up to me several years ago and he thanked me. … because I sat him down and talked to him because he wasn’t quite going on the (right) path.
“So he’s married and has kids now. And he said, ‘man, if you hadn’t sat down and talked to me that day, I would have never made it.’ So that always makes you feel good. That’s what the job’s about, helping somebody.”
