Selfless Service

PICTURED ABOVE

Central City Police Officer Justin Gunterman enjoys being a patrol officer because it gives him ample opportunity to interact with his community. (Photo Provided)

There are instances in life that are life-changing.

Central City Police Officer Justin Gunterman knows about such occurrences, having experienced a career-deciding moment when he was a teenager, shortly after attending a birthday party for his 4-year-old cousin.

“When the celebration was finished, I remember us all leaving,” he recalled. “My aunt and two of my cousins left right before we did, and I went with my parents to head home. I remember coming up on some cars stopped in the middle of the highway and my mom saying, ‘Call 911.’

“My aunt’s car was off the left side of the road, and it was on its top with smoke coming from it,” Gunterman continued. “My dad and a couple of others who had stopped ran down the hill to check on them. I remember hearing sirens from the police cars that pulled up, followed by the fire department and ambulances.”

It was a difficult scene for anyone, let alone a child in his early teens, as his cousin died from injuries sustained in the crash. However, through it all, Gunterman remembers the calmness and professionalism of the Muhlenburg County first responders, and it stuck with him.

“Just watching them all operating methodically in chaos was amazing to me,” Gunterman said. “Everyone was in shock with what had just happened, but these officers handled it with professionalism and stayed calm. It was then I knew that was someone I wanted to be. I wanted to be the one who comes to help whenever it’s needed.”

Hometown Policing

Born and raised in Muhlenburg County, Gunterman felt at home when he was hired by CCPD in June 2018.

“I spent a lot of time in Central City and knew this community as a child,” he explained. “This community is the reason I got interested in policing at a young age. I would always be intrigued by the city Christmas parades and community events. While I was working as a teenager at a local restaurant, I had a lot of interaction with different police officers when they would take a break.”

According to Gunterman, there are pros and cons of policing in the county where you grew up.

“I know the citizens who live here, and I share a love for this community the same way they do,” he said. “Of course, when you are policing in your hometown, you are sometimes going to have situations when the victim or suspect may be someone you know, but I always handle those situations with the same respect and the same service I would offer to someone I didn't know.”

“I know the citizens who live here, and I share a love for this community the same way they do.”

— Central City Police Officer Justin Gunterman

Small-Town, Big-City Challenges

CCPD and its complement of 12 police officers serve its western Kentucky community of about 6,000 residents.

Though small in comparison to cities such as Louisville and Lexington, the challenges the department face are no different from its big-city counterparts.

“Drugs continue to be a challenge in our city,” Gunterman pointed out. “I can say first hand that drugs cause much of the other crimes to occur, including theft, assault, and driving under the influence. Our department understands the relationship between drugs and other crimes, so we do focus a lot of our time on drugs and drug-related crime.”

On a more personal note, because of what happened to his cousin, Gunterman is passionate about keeping impaired drivers off the roads.

“I do focus on traffic and impaired drivers because I know the effect that can have on a family and how their lives can be changed by one accident,” he explained.

“In this profession, it does not take long to amass some memorable cases or scenes,” he continued. “I remember arresting a driver who was impaired, which happened to be during my first shift back from the (DOCJT Basic Training) academy. It was a good feeling knowing that I could have just taken someone off the road who might have hit someone, causing a stranger's life to change. That was a very proud moment for me, because I had wanted that responsibility for a long time.”

Learning the Ropes

Presently, Gunterman serves as a patrol officer, allowing him to interact with Central City’s residents regularly.

“I enjoy it because we’re the first line interacting with the community,” he said. “I like to patrol neighborhoods. It is nice seeing families outside or walking around our city. It is nice knowing we are providing a service that allows them to worry less about being home and around the city.”

His duties also allow him to gain valuable experience, which Gunterman says will help him continue growing and developing as a police officer.

“I have been to a wide range of calls from fires, vehicle accidents, overdoses, domestics, suicides, and even calls where someone just needed someone to talk,” Gunterman explained. “I feel on any call, we have an opportunity to impact someone’s life. Sometimes the life impacted is not the suspect or the victim but could be a child there. They might see me and say, ‘I want to make a difference this way one day,’ and chose a similar path. I know what they feel like because I was once that child.”

Being able to respond to a wide range of calls allows Gunterman to delve into another area of policing he likes – investigations.

“I also enjoy investigations because it allows me to interact with the community,” Gunterman said. “I enjoy figuring out why things happened and who caused them. This is a community where the citizens of Central City live, so I believe they are owed a safe community.”

Going Forward

Though early in his policing career, Gunterman is level-headed and knows the importance of doing things the right way.

“It easy to get caught up in politics or the latest headline on the news,” he said. “It is important to know what is happening in our nation, but I think the pressing matter is what is happening in your community and how you can make it better. At the end of the day, the citizens of Central City are the ones who are counting on the service from our police department. So (we need to focus) on how can we deliver that service to them, and how can we include their input and support into our department? Out department does a good job at that by being transparent and providing support to the community.”