As students and families adjust to the start of the school year, a new police officer is poised to protect and serve the Center Grove community after a tenured career in law enforcement.
Center Grove Police Department’s (CGPD) newest officer is Matt Maciak, who comes to the Center Grove community after 20 years as a New York State Trooper. Maciak is a husband and father of two, and his wife’s family roots in Johnson County are what brought them to the area.
“I was looking to get my wife closer to her family here in Johnson County, so I took the opportunity to retire in New York when I could,” Maciak says. “We moved out here and took a year off to decompress from the job. Then this position opened up and here I am.”
Maciak’s career kicked off in an unexpected way. The Grand Canyon University sports medicine student was tasked with doing a ride-along with police, fire or EMS as part of his graduation requirement. He chose to head out with a Phoenix officer on a Friday night shift with a full moon — and says the rest is history.
“I absolutely fell in love with it,” he says. “I ended up taking the New York State Police entrance exam, passed, got hired by them and worked 20 years for New York State Police as a trooper. As for my troop, we had the Baseball Hall of Fame. I was assigned to the back of the stage where all of the Hall of Famers and new inductees come off the buses they brought in.”
Maciak recalls one of the most memorable moments in his career was getting to know Ozzie Smith and serving as a dignitary protection officer for the Dalai Lama. He also worked on Bourbon Street after Hurricane Katrina alongside the Louisiana State Police for several weeks.
Now his sights are set on the halls of Center Grove’s nine school buildings, where he looks forward to spending time with students each day as a positive role model and mentor.
“I’m still a kid, you know. I just turned 50 back in June and I’ve always enjoyed being around kids,” says Maciak, whose nieces and nephews lovingly refer to him as “Uncle Mattress” — a spin on his Uncle Matt name and a nod to his role as the baby whisperer of the family.
That’s the kind of kid-friendly 
person who fits this CGPD role, according to Center Grove Police Chief Ray Jackson, who leads a police force of 10 personnel — three School Security Officers (SSOs) and seven School Resource Officers (SROs).
“When I hire an officer, I want somebody who wants to be here, and a majority of our officers, say 95% of them, have already worked at other places,” Jackson says. “They’ve already kicked down doors and chased bad guys, and now they feel like this is where I want to be.”
CGPD is headquartered in the Center Grove Emergency Operations Center (EOC), a collaborative venture between Center Grove Schools, White River Township Fire Department, Bargersville Community Fire Department, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department — a unique setup for a school corporation and its community partners.
“I think we’re one of one or two schools in the country that have a place like this where we share space with multiple entities,” Jackson says. “When we’re going on a call, the fire department knows and vice versa. We have their CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system, they have ours. So most of the time, when we respond to our schools, our response times are cut down.”
Maciak says he has been impressed from day one with the collaboration among these community partners and the level of technology implemented by the district to help keep students and staff safe.
“Number one, the resources that we have here at the EOC, like the camera system, is beyond my wildest dreams. To have that resource is huge. It makes our job easier,” Maciak says. “I wish every school in the country could have something like what we have here.”
Jackson says technology investments have been a critical part of their safety plan, especially in the last decade, but having the right people for the job is just as important.
“We’re always trying to think outside the box and be creative to try to get the next best thing to keep our students safe,” he says. “As of now, all our buildings are locked down. We have signage up, we’ve got surveillance cameras, we’ve got AI software. But sometimes you can have all of those things in place, and the best thing you can have is actual feet on the ground. So we have School Resource Officers in and out of the buildings constantly throughout the day.”
For Maciak, the Trojan community has been nothing but welcoming in his short time in his new role, something he appreciates after a long career on the streets of New York.
“The teachers and the staff, from Superintendent Dr. Bill Long all the way down, have all been really personable, easily approachable and extremely encouraging,” Maciak says, adding that the firefighters who work in the EOC have been equally welcoming and collaborative.
But most of all, Officer Maciak is eager to get to know the students and families of Center Grove.
“Ultimately, I’d like to let them know that we’re approachable, to utilize us,” he says. “If they see one of us, feel free to flag us down. Let them know that they can talk to us — we’re here for them. We want to make sure your kid is as safe as possible.”
