Crawfordsville’s longest-serving police officer has hung up the uniform.
Lt. Hal Utterback of the Crawfordsville Police Department retired after 41 years patrolling the streets, ending a career that brought him to the front lines of fighting crime and into the lives of middle schoolers learning to say no to drugs.
“I’ve been one of those rare people that has gotten to do exactly what they wanted to do for their entire working career,” he said.
Utterback geared up with and commanded the SWAT team, ran for sheriff and spent 10 years as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) instructor at Tuttle Middle School, a role he said came at a time when he needed to remember that not every kid was a troublemaker.
When Mac Petty celebrated his retirement as Wabash College’s longtime head basketball coach, Utterback provided security for another fixture in Indiana hoops: Bob Knight, one of Petty’s high school friends.
“Since I’ve known Hal, I can truly say that he loves this profession. His passion and integrity made the department and the community of Crawfordsville better,” said Chief Aaron Mattingly, who like other younger officers said Utterback had a huge influence on his career.
“The department and community are lucky to have experienced his service,” Mattingly said.
Utterback joined the force in 1979 after first becoming an emergency medical technician and starting an ambulance service at the Ben Hur nursing home. His introduction to police work had come through a high school career explorer program, but he had to wait until turning 21 to apply for the force.
“There was no problem with Hal. He was a good officer,” said Carlos Goode, who was Utterback’s first police chief.
Working his way up the ranks, Utterback helped train new officers at the academy and was an instructor in high-speed emergency vehicle operations.
“When I came on in 1993, Hal was a strong influence to me,” said Det. Lt. Mike Norman, who served nine years as police chief. “I feel he has influence and provided guidance to many young officers through the years.”
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Utterback and a team of Crawfordsville officers were deployed as part of a task force to the Mississippi gulf coast. After escorting a semi-truck full of donated supplies to New Orleans, they joined officers from Tennessee in going door-to-door on boats in the flooded city rescuing survivors.
The motor would bounce when the boat struck a car submerged in the dirty water.
“We picked up one guy that was towing a dumpster full of water bottles that he’d gotten out of one of the buildings down there because he didn’t have any water in his apartment,” Utterback said. “He didn’t want rescued, he just wanted a ride back to his apartment.”
One of the officers the team met on the two-week deployment later applied for a job with Crawfordsville Police.
As he settles into retirement, Utterback, 62, is helping a friend with farm work and plans to spend more time hunting and fishing.
“The other morning I was driving out to the farm and the sun was coming up and that country-western song ‘It’s How They Remember You’ came on,” said Utterback, who said he had mixed feelings about retiring. “I think when that song came on, it was just like a weight lifted off of me.”
