Friends Break In To Police Chief's Home For Makeover

It takes some nerve to break into the police chief's house. For some good-hearted neighbors, it was part of an undercover operation.<br/><br/>News on Six anchor Terry Hood takes us to Sperry for the

Monday, October 17th 2005, 6:33 pm

By: News On 6

It takes some nerve to break into the police chief's house. For some good-hearted neighbors, it was part of an undercover operation.

News on Six anchor Terry Hood takes us to Sperry for the surprise renovation.

Sperry Police Chief Mike Smith just moved into his house in April.

Friend and decorator Susan Eddings says his home was in desparate need of attention.

"He had a recliner, a couch, a broken table in the living room, dining room, and not much to work with."

Chief Smith has spent the last three weeks working hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast with a team of paramedics from Oologah.

He helped move patients out of this hospital in Beaumont, to facilites with electricity and running water in Houston.

The whole time, Smith was supposed to be on vacation.

"So when I found out he was going to be gone, I thought let's do it," Susan Eddings said.

"He's going to be using his vacation time up and won't have time to work on his house, so we broke in kind of."

The first night Susan and her friends were working on the house, another member of the Sperry police department caught them in the act.

"It was kinda scary the first night I found somebody was here," says Chief Mike Smith.

"Someone called me in Texas, and asked me if anyone was supposed to be in my house."

From then on, Chief Smith knew something was going on at his house. He just didn't know what to expect when he came home.

He was startled to say the least, and a little surprised to see the hidden treasures his friends dug up. Now his bachelor pad, looks more like a bachelor's palace.

Susan Eddings says this was one of her harder jobs, since Chief Smith wasn't home to tell her what he did and didn't like.

She says she stayed away from pink, purple and flowers. The chief agreed that was a smart decision.