Dan Goris is thankful for career in police work as he looks to the future

Dan Goris has always been a police officer at heart.
Many in the community know him from the Indiana State Police where he served the citizens of Ripley County. Others may know him from the three schools he has served as resource officer – South Ripley, Jac-Cen-Del and finally, Milan.

But, what they don’t know is Dan knew from the time he was in middle school that he would be in law enforcement. Not just any department, but more particularly the Indiana State Police Post in Versailles.

How did an Indianapolis boy even know about the ISP at Versailles? It all goes back to his father taking him to Friendship to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association when he was young. They would turn from US 421 onto SR 129 heading to Friendship and he would see the post at the intersection. “That’s what I’m going to do,” he announced. And he did and never looked back.

Dan told The Versailles Republican he even took typing in high school so he could type police reports. He knew he couldn’t get into any trouble and made sure he kept it that way. Upon graduation from high school, he went directly to Vincennes University where they had a robust law enforcement program. When he graduated from there, he knew what he wanted, but there were a few hurdles to jump. He didn’t mind. He first went to the Knox County Sheriff’s Department.

When he was accepted into the Indiana State Police Academy in 1980, he was able to pick the top five posts he would like to work from. Of course, his first pick was Versailles. Back then it wasn’t easy to get into the Versailles Post as it is viewed as a “Country Club” – meaning it is a great place to work. What Dan didn’t know was that the top five in the class got their choices – and he was in the top five!
“It’s God’s country,” he noted of Versailles, saying good people make it a good area and he was thrilled to be right where he always said he would be.

Then in 1987 he was promoted to Sgt. of Special Investigations. Now this came with an office in Indianapolis. He went but didn’t stay long. “I took a voluntary demotion and came back to Versailles,” he laughed, saying he even was re-issued his badge #1117. He was back to being a trooper, but after-all that’s what he wanted to be in the first place.

Dan has held many positions over the years being promoted to Squad Sgt. at Versailles and was also Sgt. for the Motor Carrier Division. Heserved on various specialty teams – one he particularly enjoyed was the Bomb Squad EOD. He went to technician school in Alabama and learned all about explosives and became Commander of the State Police Bomb Squad.

After retirement from the Indiana State Police, Dan wasn’t done with police work. He was employed with South Ripley Schools as the Transportation Director for a couple of years, then was their first School Resource Officer, a job that stole his heart. He worked through the Versailles Town Marshal Joe Mann and for two years was able to build positive relationships with the students and staff. He said it was a dream job. He went on to serve as School Resource Officer at Jac-Cen-Del for four years and is just now finishing up four years at Milan Schools.

Dan has headed up the Homeland Security School Safety Statewide Program for the southern half of Indiana. He loves the interaction with the students, the faculty, teachers, and people in the community. “It’s the most rewarding,” he said without a doubt. Although it’s a huge paradigm shift, from traditional police work, he says he has enjoyed every aspect of police work his entire career.

In the School Resource Officer position Dan can provide a role model and be a mentor to students and staff. However, he does work closely with the school principals, counselors, and staff. He said he has a close working relationship with the prosecutor’s office and the courts as they relate to juvenile cases.

Becoming a School Resource Officer requires basic 40-hour training, but it is much more. He noted that the National School Resource Officer Association provides intense training and mentorship. He takes the position of School Resource Office seriously and says we are living in a much different time than when he started law enforcement many years ago.

At the end of the day, Dan says sometimes he just sits back and thinks, “I can’t believe they pay me for this.” The stories he has compiled of kids who have grown up with him at their school and are now parents with him still being the person their kids go to. When he was at Jac-Cen-Del schools he got dubbed “Deputy Dan” and that has stuck. He can be in a store or some event and hear a child say, “Hey, there’s Deputy Dan!” It does his heart good and he makes a point to always speak to them.

His hobbies have always been and continue to be a lot of Civil War research, presentations, and collecting. He has been published in a National Civil War magazine, and has a deep, deep passion for all things Civil War. He and his wife Dorothea (who is a retired ER Nurse), make their home in Batesville and plan to spend some time together. Dan won’t be sitting around the house much though. He has plans and you can believe they will somehow include law enforcement in some form.

His life has been about changing one life. He’s done that, plus added a multitude of others to the list.

He is proud of being chosen to attend the National FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, but he is most proud of the kids whose lives have been touched by his kind word of encouragement, a smile, and his positive attitude.

In closing, “Deputy Dan” would like to thank the citizens of Ripley County for allowing him to help fulfill his lifelong