TERRE HAUTE —
Joe Watts heard the calling to wear a police uniform early in life.
“I tell everyone that as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a state trooper,” Watts says.
With more than 30 years experience as a public servant, the veteran Indiana State Police Trooper said the drive to help people in need is at the core of those who answer the call.
Now a sergeant and public information officer for the Putnamville Post, Watts is a 1980 graduate of Montezuma High School, where he was a three-sport athlete in basketball, baseball and cross country.
While attending Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana State University, Watts worked full time as an emergency medical technician for the Parke County Ambulance Service for four years while serving as a part-time dispatcher for that county’s sheriff’s department.
But the sharp image of state troopers and their professionalism still had the same draw it did when he was a young child, he said.
“Not everyone gets to do the job they want to do,” Watts said, adding he doesn’t take it for granted that he’s one of the lucky few.
Still, the process came one step at a time. In the summer of 1984, he went to work as a dispatcher for what was then the Terre Haute ISP Post, obtaining a spot in the agency’s recruit school a year later and graduating as a trooper Nov. 10, 1985. His first assignment was patrolling Vigo County, which he did until 1991, before transferring to the Parke and Vermillion counties patrol zones, where he served until 2000. That July, he was promoted to corporal and moved back to the Terre Haute area until 2003, when he was promoted to sergeant and made a public information officer, the spot he maintains today.
Along the way, Watts served as a Field Training Officer for 15 years and worked on the ISP SWAT team for a decade. He also served as a past instructor for the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course.
“Law enforcement, to me, is a calling,” he said, explaining people don’t just wake up one day and decide to become police officers. The drive to help people is one so ingrained in the personality that, even after 26 years, he still feels the pull to enter hostile environments and help people. No matter how bad the situation is, Watts said, he’s always felt “at home” being a police officer.
And that’s where he was, at home, 10 years ago on Sept. 11 when terrorists struck the nation. He had worked the midnight shift and was sitting at home when his wife called to tell him to turn on the television. Watching the footage of the planes striking the World Trade Center, he recalled the disbelief he initially felt. Later, he went down to a coffee shop and talked with other troopers. None of them could believe it, he recalled.
The dangers of public service are very real, he said. But police officers and other emergency responders know that. Wearing the uniform means risking your life.
In 1987, just two years into the job, Watts responded to the shooting death of Vigo County Sheriff Deputy Walter Kevin Artz. It was the first time he’d ever seen another police officer shot, and the impact resonated. He’d been friends with the Artz family and the incident hit close to home, he recalled.
In July of this year, the married father of two found himself involved in yet another officer death, as Terre Haute Police Department K-9 Officer Brent Long was killed while assisting with a warrant service.
Three times, Watts has spoken with, and tried to help, suicidal people. Three times they ended up killing themselves, he said.
Responding to automobile accidents involving children is always hard on officers, and one never really clocks out of the job.
Police officers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And even when out of uniform, neighbors and friends know what you do, calling your home constantly for help or advice.
Working in law enforcement, one typically deals with people at their worst times, as victims of a crime or crash, and being vented upon or attacked is common, Watts said.
“Every day in your work shift, your emotions shift many, many times,” he said, explaining a trooper might be busy writing a report when summoned to the scene of a vehicle crash.
Then again, twice in his career Watts has received an award for saving a life. The first was for performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a choking woman, the second one for pulling an unconscious driver from a burning car. In 2010, he received the Walter Kevin Artz Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award given by the Terre Haute Breakfast Optimist Club, 13 years after attending the scene at which his friend was killed.
For young people interested in a law enforcement career, Watts said getting a good education is essential. About 80 percent of a police officer’s time is spent writing and reading reports, and literacy is key. Maintaining a clean driving and criminal record is also essential. But most important, he advises, seek the job as a way to help others and keep that the highest priority.
9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
WHY I SERVE: The police officer
- 9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
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Delores Ann Day
Delores Ann Day, 77, of Terre Haute, passed away at 2:10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Union Hospital.
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Wabash Valley lights the night in memory of those lost to terrorism
As the sun set and skies turned pink Sunday, about 30 people worked to light 9,200 tea candles at the Fairbanks Park Chauncey Rose Memorial.
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‘September Souls’ a 9/11 story told one piece at a time
Amid the mourning, artwork was born.
The resulting quilt, “September Souls,” will be on display in Indiana State University’s Cunningham Memorial Library through October, along with a short video about its creator, the late Rosemary England. -
Terre Haute South site of 9/11 ceremony to ‘remember the fallen’
The morning was clear, warm and comfortable, not unlike 10 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers on suicide missions murdered nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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Donors remember times of need as they let the ‘red’ flow
The music floating about Fairbanks Park was serene, but inside the air-conditioned RV nearby, the blood was pumping.
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Service honors those who boldly leap into the face of danger
Religious services around the Wabash Valley marked the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, including a special service honoring America’s emergency responders Sunday at Good Shepherd Baptist Church on the south side of Terre Haute.
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ISU ensembles honor memory of 9/11
Vocal and instrumental music blended with visual images as Indiana State University student performers joined Sunday in songs of reflection and hope in memory of 9/11.
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EDITORIAL: Inspired by resilience in our post-9/11 world
The places directly linked to 9/11 can seem so distant from our own surroundings here in the Wabash Valley.
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True heroism: Flight 93 rewrote conclusion to plot by 9/11 terrorists (see VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Last of a three-part series
The place — chosen by fate — holds a powerful silence. -
MARK BENNETT: Value of every minute deeply realized on 9/11 (related VIDEO)
Editor’s Note
This summer, the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett visited New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., sites where the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now memorialized. He observed the cityscapes and landscapes forever changed by the events of that day and talked with people he encountered there, many of whom witnessed the attacks and their aftermath from close range and had personal ties to its victims. -
Three sites ... a shared goal: Travelers will experience 3 distinct environments at 9/11 memorials
A national sense of tragedy provides a common, connecting thread to these three places.
A broad plot by al-Qaida terrorists sent hijacked commercial airlines crashing into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a remote field near Shanksville, Pa., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. A decade later, most Americans old enough to vote know the basic story and remember where they were on 9/11. -
Pilot recalls escorting Air Force One on 9/11
Piloting his F-16 fighter jet on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, then-Lt. Col. Chris Colbert of the Terre Haute-based 181st Fighter Wing, could see that the shimmering object in the distance was a very, very large aircraft.
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Volunteers turn out for 9/11 Day of Service
Building handicapped ramps, pulling weeds along a city park trail and assembling packages for U.S. military personnel were all part of a 9/11 Day of Service on Saturday organized by Terre Haute Ministries.
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Pentagon Memorial pays tribute to 184 lives lost in 9/11 attack on Washington (related VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Second of a three-part series
The latch clicked loudly, and Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey pushed open a door inside Corridor 4 of the Pentagon.
He entered an area that resembles an urban alley, but with a roof.
“This is where the final pieces of the aircraft had crashed through,” explained Ditchey, Pentagon press officer for the Department of Defense. -
Sept. 11, 2001 — A date seared into the minds of Americans
There are events so important in our lives that we remember every detail. Sometimes, these are personal celebrations such as weddings, births and graduations. But other events, sudden and tragic on a national scale, such as the brutal terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, become defining moments for a generation.
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B.J. RILEY: Quieting the roar of the presses …
There are memories branded forever in our minds. They are as clear as if they occurred just yesterday. I will never forget that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, or the days that followed …
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A CHANGED NATION: After 9/11, air travel, privacy, security all took on new rules
A lot has changed in the decade since passenger planes were used as missiles to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and to damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
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9/11 Day of Service in Valley: Consolidated 5th-graders swept away with helping others
After the 9/11 tragedy, many saw a spirit of unity emerging across the country as Americans pulled together and helped each other during a dark time in U.S. history.
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WHY I SERVE: The soldier
On the wall of his office inside the Myers Technology Building, Chris Pfaff pointed to a map of Afghanistan, a place about as different from the Indiana State University campus as one can imagine.
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'ALMOST SURREAL': A decade later, two men who witnessed the attacks look back
The underground Metro train shook noticeably.
Something had happened. William Hanna, a retired U.S. Army colonel living in Virginia, was on board the Metro and could feel the shock. -
WHY I SERVE: The firefighter
Big red trucks and blaring sirens always held a special appeal for Jason Kame.
“I always wanted to be a fireman. I was one of those kids that always knew what I wanted to do,” he said inside the Terre Haute Fire Department’s Headquarters Station at First and Spruce streets. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: Attacks created new chapters for the history books
The 9/11 terrorist attacks permanently changed the daily routine for students in the Vigo County School Corp.
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WHY I SERVE: The police officer
Joe Watts heard the calling to wear a police uniform early in life.
“I tell everyone that as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a state trooper,” Watts says. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: 9/11 attacks were a ‘historical turning point’
Incoming college freshmen this fall would have been about 8 years old when 9/11 occurred, and college faculty find that with each passing year, students know less and less about the terrorist attacks.
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Ralston took part in congressional terrorism study before 9/11
Years before the terrorist attacks in 2001, Terre Haute resident Patrick R. Ralston was part of a national panel that would assess how the U.S. government could assist state and local responders in combating terrorism.
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IN GOD WE TRUST: Many sought comfort in prayer, religion after attacks
In times of tragedy, many people turn to prayer to help them begin to cope with myriad emotions.
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LIFE & LIBERTY: Americans won’t let lives be ruled by fear, prof says
In the post-9/11 world, Americans have been willing to make some concessions in the name of national security, but not many, says a St. Mary-of-the-Woods College faculty member.
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Ten years removed, 9/11 attack on NYC remains on minds of many (see VIDEO)
First of a three-part series
A decade later, images from Sept. 11, 2001, remain vivid in the minds of most Americans. Plane crashes. Collapsing skyscrapers. Staggering people covered in dust. Horror. Shock. Confusion. Fear. Heroism. -
9/11 Memorial Event to honor those killed in attacks
Late last year, Terri (T.J.) Coonce had a vision for a 9/11 memorial event.
Inspired by an uncle and cousin who had served in Afghanistan, she wanted to honor not only those killed in the terrorist attacks, but also all American service members who have since lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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‘Remember those who were heroes that day’
Half-time shows at college football games are normally reserved for some relatively light entertainment and a chance to buy some snacks.
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