Shuter To Replace Rock As Kosciusko County EMA Director
January 10, 2023 at 1:06 a.m.
Shuter To Replace Rock As Kosciusko County EMA Director
By David L. Slone-
Tuesday was his first day on the job as the deputy director of the Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency (EMA). By early April, Shuter will take over as director as Ed Rock is retiring after 19 years in the position.
“That’s one of the biggest things I’m excited for, is to see where I can take this role, to be able to help our fire departments, our EMS, our police agencies. And bring in money and grant funds for that and see where that can help them out,” Shuter said in an interview Friday in his EMA office in the basement of the Justice Building.
Shuter, 57, was born and raised in LaPorte where he also graduated from high school. In the early 1980s, he came to Grace College, starting as a music major, switched to a journalism major and then changed to a criminal justice major. Instead of finishing a degree then, he became a dispatcher in 1986 with the city of Warsaw and then a Warsaw Police Department officer in April 1988. In 2021, he received his Grace College degree in business administration.
After 31 years with the WPD, Shuter retired in 2017, but served another four years as a reserve officer for the Winona Lake Police Department.
His next job after WPD was as the full-time audiovisual technical director at Grace College until his desire to get back into emergency services had him looking for a new career opportunity.
“I had known this position was coming open from conversations I had had with Ed previously in the year. He let me know that he was retiring,” Shuter said. “I had mentioned to him, I had said, ‘I would like to be back into emergency services in some shape or form.’”
In the mid part of 2022, Shuter began looking for job options in emergency services. Offers came in at the state and federal level because of Shuter’s background in accident reconstruction, traffic safety and other areas.
“But I didn’t want to move. (My wife) Sandy and I love it here and we really don’t want to move. Most of our family is here,” he said.
Kip and Sandy have a son, an adopted son, a daughter and five grandchildren.
He considered different job opportunities and knew he just wanted to get back into emergency services. Toward the end of 2022, Rock let Shuter know that the position was being opened up. Rock had been given permission by the County Commissioners and Council to hire a deputy director for three months to train to take over as director.
“I applied for it, interviewed and apparently got it,” Shuter said, adding that he also had been looking at other emergency services positions. “But this was the one I was primarily interested in, that really fit my skill set.”
Despite Shuter’s extensive skill set, additional training and certification will still be necessary to take over as EMA director. Of a list of certifications on a sheet of paper he displayed, he had about four already checked off. He will have to do the online certifications for the others.
“But, something you probably didn’t know, I also have a fire background. I was a fireman at Winona Lake for over 20 years. I retired from there when my kids were in high school, just because there was too much conflict with my kids’ activities and fire department activities,” Shuter said.
At Winona Lake, he served as a longtime assistant chief, became chief for a short period of time and then back to assistant chief before retiring.
“Having the fire background, having the police background gives me a really good foot and knowledge into the direction and background of emergency management, the incident command system and all of the different aspects that have come into play since 9/11 and all of those requirements that have been put on local, (state and federal) jurisdictions,” Shuter said.
Rock agreed that Shuter is bringing a lot of assets to the EMA and the director’s chair.
“He’s got some experience that is going to be huge for the Emergency Management Agency for Kosciusko County. He’s got the grants already. He understands the telegrant system. Some of the technology stuff that he has experienced in the last few years, I think, is going to be a huge boon to advance - I’m really excited to see where he’s going to take emergency management over the next couple of years. And just getting things started and making improvements on things that I didn’t have the skill sets to do, but he does,” Rock said.
As for the collaboration aspect of the job, Rock said Shuter is already well-known by a number of contacts throughout not only Kosciusko County, but beyond that.
“The law enforcement aspect, he’s already worked with them in the past. The fire departments, he’s already worked with, and EMS, I’m sure, is not going to be a huge roadblock for him. It’s going to be something he can push through and get everyone working on the same page, which is the big issue with emergency management: Making sure you can get all of these organizations working together to improve our readiness and our capabilities,” Rock stated.
Shuter said his skill set is in leadership and management, logistics and administration, organization and technology.
“All those different aspects that come into this particular niche of this kind of position, so that’s really going to help me hopefully bring a good working relationship with every emergency service in the county,” he said.
One of Shuter’s roles at WPD was as grant administrator for about 10 years. That helped him learn the grant system, and the EMA director writes a lot of grant applications.
A thing that Shuter takes pride in is that he’s always willing to learn something new.
“I’ve taken steps to always try to be learning. I did that with accident investigation, reconstruction, traffic safety. That all took me into the traffic engineering side to help with the Traffic Safety Commission and things like that,” Shuter said. “Fire service did the same thing. Went to the national fire academy for particular classes.”
He became a fire and police instructor, which helps him keep things “fresh,” he said, and teach other people.
“That’s one of the things I’ve always valued - helping others learn and pass on the knowledge I know to other people. So, that’s a lot of the reason I became an instructor for both of those. And that has blossomed into opportunities beyond my belief. It has led to my being the president of the state crash association, which that led to me being the vice president of the national crash association (World Reconstruction Exposition),” Shuter said.
Another attribute Shuter is bringing to the EMA is his networking skills and the many people he has come to know over the years.
He was an adjunct instructor for almost 20 years at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, teaching accident investigation classes, as well as throughout the state.
“So that introduced me to new recruits, new people, others that wanted advanced crash investigation, so they became friends and colleagues all over the state, so I had that networking ability,” Shuter said. “Same thing with the fire department, fire association, being an instructor there - being able to build those relationships within our county, mostly within the county and the county fire association.”
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Tuesday was his first day on the job as the deputy director of the Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency (EMA). By early April, Shuter will take over as director as Ed Rock is retiring after 19 years in the position.
“That’s one of the biggest things I’m excited for, is to see where I can take this role, to be able to help our fire departments, our EMS, our police agencies. And bring in money and grant funds for that and see where that can help them out,” Shuter said in an interview Friday in his EMA office in the basement of the Justice Building.
Shuter, 57, was born and raised in LaPorte where he also graduated from high school. In the early 1980s, he came to Grace College, starting as a music major, switched to a journalism major and then changed to a criminal justice major. Instead of finishing a degree then, he became a dispatcher in 1986 with the city of Warsaw and then a Warsaw Police Department officer in April 1988. In 2021, he received his Grace College degree in business administration.
After 31 years with the WPD, Shuter retired in 2017, but served another four years as a reserve officer for the Winona Lake Police Department.
His next job after WPD was as the full-time audiovisual technical director at Grace College until his desire to get back into emergency services had him looking for a new career opportunity.
“I had known this position was coming open from conversations I had had with Ed previously in the year. He let me know that he was retiring,” Shuter said. “I had mentioned to him, I had said, ‘I would like to be back into emergency services in some shape or form.’”
In the mid part of 2022, Shuter began looking for job options in emergency services. Offers came in at the state and federal level because of Shuter’s background in accident reconstruction, traffic safety and other areas.
“But I didn’t want to move. (My wife) Sandy and I love it here and we really don’t want to move. Most of our family is here,” he said.
Kip and Sandy have a son, an adopted son, a daughter and five grandchildren.
He considered different job opportunities and knew he just wanted to get back into emergency services. Toward the end of 2022, Rock let Shuter know that the position was being opened up. Rock had been given permission by the County Commissioners and Council to hire a deputy director for three months to train to take over as director.
“I applied for it, interviewed and apparently got it,” Shuter said, adding that he also had been looking at other emergency services positions. “But this was the one I was primarily interested in, that really fit my skill set.”
Despite Shuter’s extensive skill set, additional training and certification will still be necessary to take over as EMA director. Of a list of certifications on a sheet of paper he displayed, he had about four already checked off. He will have to do the online certifications for the others.
“But, something you probably didn’t know, I also have a fire background. I was a fireman at Winona Lake for over 20 years. I retired from there when my kids were in high school, just because there was too much conflict with my kids’ activities and fire department activities,” Shuter said.
At Winona Lake, he served as a longtime assistant chief, became chief for a short period of time and then back to assistant chief before retiring.
“Having the fire background, having the police background gives me a really good foot and knowledge into the direction and background of emergency management, the incident command system and all of the different aspects that have come into play since 9/11 and all of those requirements that have been put on local, (state and federal) jurisdictions,” Shuter said.
Rock agreed that Shuter is bringing a lot of assets to the EMA and the director’s chair.
“He’s got some experience that is going to be huge for the Emergency Management Agency for Kosciusko County. He’s got the grants already. He understands the telegrant system. Some of the technology stuff that he has experienced in the last few years, I think, is going to be a huge boon to advance - I’m really excited to see where he’s going to take emergency management over the next couple of years. And just getting things started and making improvements on things that I didn’t have the skill sets to do, but he does,” Rock said.
As for the collaboration aspect of the job, Rock said Shuter is already well-known by a number of contacts throughout not only Kosciusko County, but beyond that.
“The law enforcement aspect, he’s already worked with them in the past. The fire departments, he’s already worked with, and EMS, I’m sure, is not going to be a huge roadblock for him. It’s going to be something he can push through and get everyone working on the same page, which is the big issue with emergency management: Making sure you can get all of these organizations working together to improve our readiness and our capabilities,” Rock stated.
Shuter said his skill set is in leadership and management, logistics and administration, organization and technology.
“All those different aspects that come into this particular niche of this kind of position, so that’s really going to help me hopefully bring a good working relationship with every emergency service in the county,” he said.
One of Shuter’s roles at WPD was as grant administrator for about 10 years. That helped him learn the grant system, and the EMA director writes a lot of grant applications.
A thing that Shuter takes pride in is that he’s always willing to learn something new.
“I’ve taken steps to always try to be learning. I did that with accident investigation, reconstruction, traffic safety. That all took me into the traffic engineering side to help with the Traffic Safety Commission and things like that,” Shuter said. “Fire service did the same thing. Went to the national fire academy for particular classes.”
He became a fire and police instructor, which helps him keep things “fresh,” he said, and teach other people.
“That’s one of the things I’ve always valued - helping others learn and pass on the knowledge I know to other people. So, that’s a lot of the reason I became an instructor for both of those. And that has blossomed into opportunities beyond my belief. It has led to my being the president of the state crash association, which that led to me being the vice president of the national crash association (World Reconstruction Exposition),” Shuter said.
Another attribute Shuter is bringing to the EMA is his networking skills and the many people he has come to know over the years.
He was an adjunct instructor for almost 20 years at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, teaching accident investigation classes, as well as throughout the state.
“So that introduced me to new recruits, new people, others that wanted advanced crash investigation, so they became friends and colleagues all over the state, so I had that networking ability,” Shuter said. “Same thing with the fire department, fire association, being an instructor there - being able to build those relationships within our county, mostly within the county and the county fire association.”
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