On June 28, the Indiana School Resource Officers Association presented Noblesville Police Dept. patrolman Matt Johnston with the 2017 Indiana School Resource Officer of the Year Award. The award was presented at INSROA’s annual conference in Bloomington.
The INSROA presents the award annually to recognize an SRO who has gone above and beyond the normal duties to enhance their school and community through the SRO philosophy of counselor, teacher and law enforcement officer. Johnston was nominated by his direct supervisor, Sgt. Andrew Reiss, for his many years of devotion and commitment to the youth of Noblesville.
Johnston has been with the NPD since 2002. He was assigned to SRO duties in 2004.
In addition to being one of four Noblesville Schools SROs, Johnston has developed and supervised the NPD Police Explorer program since 2006. As its coordinator, he established a summer academy for local explorers in 2006. The week-long academy provides students both classroom and hands-on training in all aspects of law enforcement, including criminal and traffic law, communications, firearms, emergency vehicle operations and physical tactics, to name a few. In 2015, Johnston successfully took the program statewide to include agencies and explorers across the state. The statewide academy is administered biennially, and the most recent academy took place June 18 to 23 at Noblesville West Middle School under Johnston’s supervision. He also is a DARE instructor. In his off-duty time, he enjoys volunteering for various youth sporting activities.
