Greenwood’s police chief is ready to turn in his badge after more than three decades with the department, and the last eight years at the helm of it.
Chief John Laut started his career with the Greenwood Police Department in 1988. He was just 26 years old at the time, and his friend Mark Myers, now Greenwood’s mayor and the chief’s boss, convinced him to apply there. He stayed put, climbing the ranks over the years, rising from detective to sergeant, before Myers appointed him chief of police in 2012.
Laut, now 57, announced this week he plans to retire Aug. 28.
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“I’m ready to not carry the gun and badge anymore,” he said. “Eight years (as chief) is enough. I think we need fresh ideas, fresh thinking … it’s always good to get someone different.”
He hopes he’s leaving behind a lasting legacy, he said. One of Laut’s major successes as chief was equipping all Greenwood officers with body cameras in 2015. Greenwood was ahead of the curve as the first department in central Indiana to do so, he said, a move the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is just now making.
Another significant part of his legacy is his daughter, Elizabeth, who joined the Greenwood Police Department as an officer in 2016.
“The agency is more professional than it ever was before … there’s more training and officers with a college education. I’m leaving the department in good hands,” Laut said.
Taking a walk down memory lane, Laut recalled a sexual assault run he went on several years ago. A young girl had reported to police that her grandfather was sexually abusing her, Laut said. When police arrived, the girl immediately ran to Laut and jumped in his arms for comfort.
That memory reminded Laut why his job was so important, he said.
“That was one of those times as a police officer where you felt like you were protecting somebody and helping somebody immensely,” Laut said.
He also reflected on how much law enforcement has changed in 30 years, particularly in the age of technology. From different types of weapons, such as Tasers and mace, to adding computers to squad cars, policing is ever-evolving. Today, police are better trained in deescalating violent situations—something they never focused on in the 1980s when he first slipped into the uniform, he said.
“We’re always trying to better ourselves,” Laut said.
Before he came to work in Greenwood, Laut worked security at the now-closed Lazarus department store in Indianapolis. That’s where he met Myers, who worked with him part-time while he was an officer at the Greenwood Police Department in 1987.
“I talked him into leaving Lazarus and coming to work for the police department,” Myers said. “He’s had a really good, strong 30-year career in law enforcement, and we’ve been friends all that time …
Through him, we’ve watched the department gain man-power and grow and watched the city grow. He’s done an excellent job.”
Greenwood was the right place for him, Laut said.
“I’ve been a life-long southsider,” he said. “Greenwood was a good fit.”
The most important lesson he learned as a police officer is there are always two sides to every story, he said.
“You can’t just listen to one side; you always have to listen to both,” Laut said.
A new police chief will be selected before Laut departs. Myers has interviewed potential candidates—both from inside and outside the department—and he expects to appoint someone within the next week, he said.
“I’m looking for somebody who is not afraid to step into a leadership role. When you step into the chief’s role, you’re no longer acting as one of the regular officers, you’re representing the city,” Myers said.
Police chief is the top leadership position on the force of 79 patrol officers, assistant chiefs, sergeants and lieutenants, and earns about $90,000 a year, according to a state database of public employee salaries. The chief manages a nearly $7 million budget.
The new chief will work alongside Laut in his final weeks on the job as they learn the ropes.
“We’re going to have a peaceful transition,” he said. “I’m going to spend two weeks with whomever the mayor selects and help him or her along in the process.”
