In January, GPD civilian evidence custodian Joe Munden was honored for completing 31 years of service to the City of Greenfield. Prior to becoming a civilian employee, Munden served over 27 years as a police officer and retired as the administrative captain in 2019. He recently resigned completely from the GPD and will officially leave the department this week. Photo by Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — For the first time in over three decades, Joe Munden will be going to work for a different organization than the Greenfield Police Department (GPD). Munden put in his resignation a couple of weeks ago after working for the GPD for a total of 31 years as an officer and as a civilian employee.
Munden officially retired from his police career as a captain in 2019 after having served over 27 years with the GPD. Since then, he has been employed as a civilian evidence custodian for the GPD. As the evidence custodian, Munden has maintained all of the evidence that is collected by officers.
That all came to an end Friday when Munden closed out his civilian job with the GPD. He has plans to work for law enforcement with the Community Health Police Department based out of Indianapolis starting Monday.
Former GPD chief of police John Jester recruited Munden for the position. Munden noted he plans to work at least another eight to 10 years in his new job before he retires completely, but his time in Greenfield will never be forgotten.
“The City of Greenfield has treated me and my family great for years, and I’ve tried my best to be good to the people and the city and I think it worked out pretty well,” Munden said. “Right now the opportunity with the new job will pay more and it presented some new opportunities.”
Munden worked his way through the GPD first as an patrol officer, then as a corporal, a sargeant, and he worked his way to lieutenant, where he ran the crime scene investigation operations and was promoted to captain.
“When I first retired in 2019, I was old enough to get my pension because I had 27 years of full time in as an officer at the age of 52, but I still wanted a full-time job,” Munden said.
That’s why Munden took the position as the GPD civilian evidence custodian offered by former chief of police Jeff Rasche.
“I knew I’d like the job because as a police officer I’d been dealing with evidence my whole career,” Munden said.
Munden, 57, is a 1985 Eastern Hancock High School graduate who followed his father’s footsteps and got into law enforcement shortly after he graduated high school.
“The majority of us in our family are in law enforcement doing community service,” Munden said. “Not only that, but when I was in high school me and my brothers were all in the law enforcement explorers program there.”
Two of his brothers Donnie Munden and Ted Munden both work for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and have for years.
“We’ve always done community service like that,” Munden said. “It’s all I’ve ever known and all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
Joe’s brother Donnie Munden noted it will be hard thinking of his brother no longer being with the GPD.
“I don’t think he’ll ever truly leave that department psychologically obviously because he’s got such strong connections with all the officers there and he’s been there for such a long time,” Donnie Munden said. “He’s got a good fraternity of people to be associated with and he’s got friendships there he’ll have for the rest of his life.”
Chief Brian Hartman said that losing a police office like Joe Munden off the streets was hard back in 2019, but the fact he was still around the office as the civilian evidence custodian, working and helping other officers, made the transition of losing him as a police officer easier. But now, with him leaving completely, it’s a big loss.
“Joe has been a true servant to this community,” Hartman said. “We wish him well in his new endeavor, and we will miss him as well as his experience, insight and dedication.”
Hartman noted the GPD is losing a lot of institutional knowledge with Munden stepping down.
“He has been very involved with setting up nearly all of our modern tools that we use everyday,” Hartman said. “We have folks that have taken over some of the daily tasks associated with keeping these systems running, but he still knows so much of it.”
Not only that, Hartman said a life-long public servant like Munden will be missed for other reasons.
“He has been a friend and mentor to everyone here over the years and it’s sad to see him go,” Hartman said.
That’s why Munden admitted making a change, leaving the GPD after three long decades, was such a hard decision.
“I was contacted about the new position, and I told him I needed some time to think about it so I talked it over with my wife, and we made the decision to give it a try,” Munden said. “But, it really was a hard decision to leave.”
During his time as an officer with GPD, Munden also earned a computer degree and has done a lot of computer work on the side for the GPD.
“I’m just looking at this as I’m making a transition, and at my age, this isn’t something I take lightly,” Munden said. “It’s probably going to be a little difficult but I am looking forward to the change. I am looking forward to the new job, and I think my experience in evidence is going to be helpful to that newer police department.”
Munden noted he and his wife plan to stay in the Greenfield area and will continue to support the community and local law enforcement whenever they can.
“That’s what we do,” Munden said with a laugh. “I will still be in the community because I don’t plan on leaving the county.”
