GREENFIELD — Brian Guinn’s not sure what drew him to law enforcement, but at some point he “got the bug.”
He’s always been a protector, in a way, he said. Always hated bullies. Always wanted to defend those around him who had less than he did, those who struggled to find their way.
The uniform just called to him, seemed like the perfect fit. And for nearly three decades, he’s worn the blues of a Greenfield Police Department officer with pride.
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Guinn will retire at the end of the month with 29 years of service to his community under his belt. He’s leaving the department to take a position as a security manager for Community Health Network, where he’ll join his former boss, retired Greenfield Police Chief John Jester.
His career with the city has been a mixture of both mundane and noteworthy days that he wouldn’t change if given the chance, he said.
It’s book-ended by two celebrated honors: a few years on the job, Guinn received the department’s highest honor — the medal of valor — for his efforts rescuing three women from their burning apartment building; and last year, he was recognized as Police Officer of the Year at the inaugural Hometown Heroes event in Greenfield, which commemorates 9/11 and honors public servants.
Guinn said he’s excited for the new opportunity, for the change of pace it will bring for him and his family. But he’ll certainly miss police work and the men and women he served beside every day.
Guinn is a Hancock County native, having grown up on the county’s east side and attending Eastern Hancock Schools.
He can remember being a freshman in high school when he first started considering law enforcement as a career. He knew a few cops — a cousin, a friend of his grandfather’s — but it wasn’t something that ran in the family, as it is with many in his field, he said.
Then, the summer between his junior and senior years in high school, former Hancock County Sheriff Malcolm Grass was shot and killed in the line of duty, and Guinn said it somewhat solidified his plans to become a police officer.
The days that followed the tragedy, the outpouring of support showed by the community, are memories Guinn still carries with him, he said. He can remember sitting outside the school on the afternoon of Grass’s funeral — school was closed for the day in honor of the beloved sheriff and Charlottesville resident — and watching the procession carrying the body to the nearby cemetery.
“It was a great honor to see that,” Guinn said. “(To see) people honoring him and the work that he did.”
He ended up winning a scholarship later that year, given to students planning to pursue careers in law enforcement that was offered in Grass’s name. And after high school, Guinn went on to attend Vincennes University, earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in conservation.
He was pursuing further education at Ball State University when an opportunity to join the Greenfield Police Department presented itself.
He became a reserve officer in May 1989, and he joined the department full time in November 1990. In his interview for the job, Keith McClarnon, who was the mayor at the time, asked Guinn if he was willing to give the city at least 20 years of his time, Guinn recalled.
He told the mayor he would; and — a man of his word — he stayed with the Greenfield Police Department for the entirety of his career.
In the years that followed, he climbed the department’s ranks, holding nearly every position offered, specializing in posts that allowed him to patrol the roads of his community and help train his fellow officers.
Guinn is a firearms instructor, who can certify other officers in the proper use of handguns, rifles, shotguns and other weapons; he was Greenfield’s first Taser instructor, helping his department develop and implement a guide for the use of the less-lethal weapons; and he is an advanced emergency vehicle operations instructor, meaning he trains officers on proper driving techniques and is experienced enough to help with classes at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy whenever needed.
He was a member of the countywide SWAT team for five years and was the first Indiana police officer to catch the use of stop-sticks — devices that will pop the tires of a fleeing suspect and impede a police chase — on an in-car camera.
They still show the footage on the TV show “COPS” every once in while, Guinn joked.
There were plenty of notable moments like that one over the years, he said, recalling them in turn, sitting behind the desk in his office one recent morning.
In December 1991, Guinn and sheriff’s deputy Clint Ellison rescued three women from a small apartment building in the city that caught fire in the middle of the night, he said.
Guinn and Ellison kicked down a door to carry one woman, who was still sleeping as the flames crept up around her, to safety.
His efforts earned him the medal of valor. City officials at the time said he was the department’s first recipient of the honor.
“It was a big deal, but it wasn’t a big deal,” Guinn said, recalling the event nonchalantly. “That’s what we do on a daily basis.”
He reacted much the same right after receiving the reward. Humbly, he told the Daily Reporter at the time, “I just saw it as something in the line of duty,” according to newspaper archives.
A few years later, in 1998, he arrested the rap duo Insane Clown Posse.
They’d stopped at the Greenfield Waffle House for a late night meal after a concert in Indianapolis and caused a fight, Guinn said. The pair — famous for their painted faces and rough lyrics — were kind to police, considering the circumstances, he said.
“They didn’t give us any trouble,” he said, with a laugh.
When Jester took the chief’s office in 2008, Guinn became the road patrol captain, overseeing about 30 officers. It’s the position he’ll hold until his retirement is official, and it’s the most challenging and fulfilling job he’s had to date, he said.
He enjoys the interaction being a captain allows him to have with his colleagues.
Those officers and the hard work they do will be what he misses most about the job, he said.
“You realize about a year into it that you’re not going to change the world,” he said, “… but if we can make where we live a safer place for our families that ends up being the goal.”