Little Rock police Capt. Patrice Smith will take over as commander of the department's southwest division effective today, according to police spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen.
Smith, a 36-year veteran, replaces retired Capt. Terry Hastings, who left the department in January.
As the department's head of special projects, Smith had been leading the southwest division's 97 sworn officers and three civilian personnel on an interim basis before Chief Kenton Buckner chose to officially assign her the job earlier this week.
Twelve lieutenants had applied to be promoted to captain for the position. Buckner promoted the top two candidates but assigned them to different divisions.
The top-rated candidate, 21-year veteran Lt. Tanya Washington, was reassigned from the northwest division to the special operations division.
Ranked behind Washington was Lt. Heath Helton, whom Buckner reassigned from the downtown division to the training division. It's the 18-year veteran's third stint in the training division.
Smith takes over the southwest division with an ongoing lawsuit against the city and the Police Department. The suit contends that Smith was denied a promotion to assistant chief in 2012 because of her race and sex. She is black.
Metro on 03/07/2015