Recently when Police1 writer W. Thomas Smith, Jr. was reading a few books about the history of the famed Texas Rangers, he came across the Texas Rangers’ Prayer, composed in the early 20th century (no specific date recorded) by the Rev. Pierre Bernard Hill.
The prayer was short, as much poetry as it was (and is) prayer, but beautiful and typical of rhythmically similar verses composed in the 1920s and 1930s. Smith was struck by its simplicity and he immediately considered such a prayer for his own Richland County Sheriff’s Department in South Carolina, where he has served as a special deputy for nearly 10 years.
“I thought to myself why not a prayer written in the language of 2025 for the not quite as well known but also elite Richland County Sheriff’s Department [RCSD],” said Smith.
Elite indeed. RCSD is one of the regularly featured law enforcement agencies on the hit television docuseries “On Patrol: LIVE.” They were part of “LIVE PD” throughout the life of that program. And the department’s investigators were the subject of a NETFLIX miniseries, “Missing Dead or Alive.” Moreover, RCSD’s Sheriff Leon Lott was named National Sheriff of the Year in 2021 by the National Sheriff’s Association, and Lott was twice named S.C. Sheriff of the Year by the S.C. Sheriff’s Association.
“I wanted this prayer to be something that reflected who our men and women are as deputy sheriffs and the absolute necessity of God’s Hand in all they do,” said Smith, a formerly deployed U.S. Marine Infantry leader who’s worked through RCSD’s public information office on numerous projects including participating in operations with the Midlands Gang Task Force and as founding director of RCSD’s Elder Abuse Awareness Team. “Prayer is powerful and frankly vital.”
Smith, an ordained Presbyterian deacon who was raised Southern Baptist, says he was careful to protect the sensibilities of all faiths. A New York Times bestselling editor and a writer whose work has appeared in USA TODAY, U.S. News & World Report, the AP, and even once sharing a byline in GEORGE magazine with the late John Kennedy Jr., Smith says this deputy prayer may be his most-important work yet. “This official RCSD prayer is for all who read it, but specifically written as the Richland County Deputy’s appeal to God for strength, courage, and temperance,” he said. “There is nothing more important than that.”
RCSD Deputy Chief Maria Yturria says: “The prayer is beautiful, covering everything and speaking to virtually every weighty responsibility we hold as law enforcement officers and leaders.”
Smith says he prayed about the prayer both before and after making the decision to write it. But he actually composed the prayer on his phone between 3:00 a.m. and 3:26 a.m. on August 8. He then shared it with a few select members of the South Carolina Black Belt Hall of Fame (he serves on the Hall of Fame’s board of directors).
“These Hall of Fame inductees are my close friends and so I wanted their objective opinion before I submitted the prayer to Sheriff Lott,” said Smith. “After reading it, they immediately commissioned me to write the official KARATE CHAMPION’S PRAYER for the S.C. Black Belt Hall of Fame.”
Sheriff Lott officially approved the Richland County Deputy’s Prayer on Tuesday, August 12.
The prayer follows:
THE PRAYER OF THE RICHLAND COUNTY DEPUTY
ALMIGHTY GOD, Supreme Protector and Dispenser of Justice; Please deliver me from evil.
Guard my heart, my soul, and my physical body as I stand in an oft-lonely breech — by day and by night — against all physical threats seeking to harm those within the diversely populated regions of my county and beyond its natural borders wherein I am sworn to serve and protect.
Please, Lord, always temper my actions and quicken my response.
Enable me through your emboldening love as I encourage my fellow Deputy Sheriffs on the roadways, across the expanse of our communities, on our waterways, and in the air where my eyes are able to guide and enhance the vision of my brothers and sisters on the ground.
Enable me further as I provide comfort to those I serve and demonstrate what is right through my example to those who might choose a path which is in conflict with Your perfect will and righteousness.
Where there is chaos, may I bring forth calm.
Where there is conflict, may I bring forth peace.
Where there is fear, may I bring about courage and a spirit of reassurance.
Where there is disunity, may I bring about harmony and composure.
Where there is hurt, may I bring about healing.
May I always have a smile for the unsmiling; a strong arm for the weak; and a heart, a hand, and an ear for those in need.
Lord, please grant me a clear mind to call upon all of these things which
I now pray that I may be able to summon on a moment’s notice.
Make me brave, always faithful, and ever mindful of your blessings. And may my words be as selfless as those spoken by Your prophet, who said: ‘HERE I AM. SEND ME.’
I ask all of these things in Your precious Name.
— Amen.
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