Ault resigns deputy work: Former official steps down from sheriff post after comment

The former elected official who resigned from the city council after making a derogatory post on Facebook has also stepped down from his volunteer work as a sheriff’s deputy.

Joe Ault has resigned as a reserve deputy for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Doug Cox said.

In his resignation letter to the sheriff, Ault reflected on his 43-year-career in law enforcement, starting in the U.S. Army’s security intelligence agency. He also worked as a reserve police office in Franklin for several years, and as a reserve sheriff’s deputy he was on the dive team.

Ault had been suspended as a reserve deputy while Cox and the department looked into the matter. He had shared a social media post that made derogatory remarks about certain countries, Democrats and votes. He resigned from the Franklin City Council within days and said in his letter that he never wanted to bring dishonor to the sheriff’s office, so the proper step was to resign.

“I have seen much and done plenty over the past 43 years,” Ault wrote. “I think I have seen about three generations of officers come and go and I have known no better men and women than right here on the Johnson County Sheriff’s Dept.”

“I guess the thing I am most proud of during all these years is I have NEVER treated anyone differently than another person I have come into contact with because of their race and in all the years I have worked in law enforcement I have never had any complaints against me.”

Ault had worked as a reserve deputy at the sheriff’s office for 29 years. Reserve deputies work for free but have the authority to stop motorists and make arrests. They serve at the pleasure of the sheriff and do not face promotion, termination or punishment by an appointed merit board, as full-time police officers and sheriff’s deputies typically do in Indiana.

The designation as a reserve deputy also allowed him to take on part-time work, such as in security.