SPANISH FORT — Marine Police Lt. Alex Smith was honored last Friday by the board of directors of Historic Blakeley State Park for his many years of investigation of marine thefts and in particular for his role is solving the theft last March of equipment from the park’s tour boat.

Presenting the award to Lieutenant Smith were Tom Purvis, chairman of the Blakeley board and former sheriff of Mobile County, and Sheriff Huey Mack, member of the board and sheriff of Baldwin County.

During the course of an investigation of a Mobile County marine theft that began last year, Lieutenant Smith in June led city law enforcement officers from Mobile and Spanish Fort to the person alleged to be the leader of a theft ring operating in coastal and inland waters in both counties.

From him they recovered numerous stolen items including the expensive cowlings and propellers the ringleader has admitted to Lieutenant Smith were stolen from the two motors on the Blakeley boat.

Through assistance of Smith, Blakeley Park has obtained the return of the cowlings from the Mobile City Police Department but is still seeking to obtain the return of the two expensive propellers. Jo Ann Flirt, park director, said the park has received conflicting reports on the missing propellers from Mobile and Spanish Fort police.

Lieutenant Smith was also recognized by Sheriff Mack for his many years of work in Civil War reenactments and for assistance in locating historic sites in this area for many years.

At the suggestion of Blakeley Park rangers, Lieutenant Smith was presented with the ship’s bell that had been stolen from the park boat and replaced earlier this year. Several weeks after searches by Mobile and Spanish Fort police, Smith recovered the bell by obtaining permission from the thief to make an additional search of the building in which he had stored items.

“That was just one example of how Lieutenant Smith goes above and beyond his regular duties to assist the public, ” Flirt said in describing the award made during the annual meeting of the Historic Blakeley Authority, the state agency that operates Blakeley Park.

Lieutenant Smith has served 21 years with the Alabama Marine Police, a division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He lives in Baldwin County and works out of the Marine Police office in Orange Beach.