On Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at 7 p.m. the Nederland Community Center was full of uniformed officers from all over the Front Range. Nederland Police Department (NPD), Nederland Fire Department, Boulder County Sheriff’s Department, Colorado Rangers, and many others were present to formally honor the career of Nederland’s Marshal Larry Johns as he approaches his retirement.

Mayor Kristopher Larsen expressed his gratitude on behalf of the town for Johns’ service, and other members of law enforcement shared their admiration for who they consider an inspirational leader and mentor.

Johns spoke briefly to the crowd about being fortunate to serve, before he focused the night on his successor, Sergeant Jennifer Fine-Loven, as well as his NPD officers. Johns awarded Fine- Loven her Marshal’s badge, and shared encouraging words, knowing that the department and the town will be in good hands.

Johns spoke honestly and pointedly about the life-saving efforts of all of Nederland’s officers, awarding Fine- Loven, Officer Eric Gerthe, Officer Troy Hendricks, and Officer J.P. Niehaus medals for their exemplary service. He shared the stories of each officer’s harrowing experience with life and death, to let the crowd know the reality of their efforts; that each officer went above and beyond, which is why they wear the badge.

After the celebration and cake, Nederland’s Board of Trustees continued on with their regularly scheduled meeting. The crowd had cleared, but Johns remained for the entire three hour meeting and was one of the last to leave.

Johns was the only one at the NPD station when we sat down for his interview. In that hour we discussed the blizzards, fires, shootings, house explosions, and the attempted bombing that he has led Nederland through; but not before starting at the beginning.

“I got interested in law enforcement through the citizens academy for the city where I grew up,” Johns remembered. “Pretty much the first day I was there I decided that was going to be my new line of employment, my new goal in life.

“I went and got a degree in criminal justice and went to the police academy and put myself through both. And then I saw a little ad in The Denver Post for a police officer in Nederland. Since I knew Nederland and spent a lot of time here as a kid, and my grandmother was still living here at that time, I figured ‘why not.’

“I was able to get hired on and worked for free for a few months. Worked every Saturday and Sunday for three months straight and then there was an opening and I was able to get it.”

Johns recalled the early days as a Nederland Police Officer, his interesting volunteer assignments and his first eyeopening assault case.

“Originally, before I was actually hired, they asked me to assist in something they were calling Frozen Dead Guy Days. They didn’t know if it was going to have 500 or 5000 people, so I volunteered there.”

“One of the first major calls I went to was to a couple of guys who got beat up on 1st Street with an ax handle. The suspects were a couple of guys from Ward, and one of them ended up doing a pretty long stint in the Department of Corrections. That was the first big eye-opener; it was the first six months working here and I was working solo.”

Johns isn’t the kind of person to look back on his career and pat himself on the back. He doesn’t reminisce bittersweetly or embellish about any of the cases he’s worked on. Johns speaks factually at the start of his answers or his stories, but he always ends on an empathetic note. He speaks with purpose and always with a focus on others, whether a fellow officer or a victim.

“I had another one where there was an assault up at the Pioneer Inn. The victim ended up getting suckerpunched, so to speak. I think there was some miscommunication but he got flat knocked out, fell back, cracked his head on the cement. He ended up being pretty significantly injured and that went to trial and actually lost the trial. It came out as self-defense, which I was shocked.” Johns remarked how things are not always cut and dried in his line of work. “Another learning experience is that not everything always goes as you assume it will. Things you think are a slam dunk, aren’t. And it can be very frustrating when your cases get thrown out because you feel bad for the victim as much as you do yourself.”

To protect and serve is a career oath that comes with heavy responsibilities and is often thankless or taken for granted. It unfortunately can take natural disasters or extreme violence happening in your backyard to recognize the merits of having a police force that cares about its community.

“I walked in and there it was sitting in the PD and I looked over at it and kind of nudged it with my foot,” Johns said, referring to the bomb that was placed outside NPD by David Ansberry on October 11, 2016.

“We thought somebody had left some found property for us, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to do that. And another officer opens it up and he just jumps back and says ‘it’s a bomb.’ I shined down in there and saw a flip cell phone with wires coming out of it and that was all I needed to see.”

“It was ultimately a bomb. They blew it up in the parking lot. It crushed the concrete and blew up the sandbags. The guy tried multiple times to detonate the bomb by phone. You don’t expect that kind of thing to happen here.”

Johns has seen a lot in his service to Nederland and he considers himself lucky for his time here and for the officers he’s served with; both currently and over the years.

“I had a mentor that worked for Platteville Police Department, Chief Jim Torres, and I met up with him through some firearms training,” Johns said.

“That’s how I ended up meeting Jennifer (Officer Fine-Loven), through him, so we both had him as somebody to look up to. Unfortunately he passed away from cancer a couple of years ago, but what a great guy. He had a very calm demeanor but very businesslike and had lots of life experience.”

Though he also remembers the tragedies that struck some of the young officers he’s worked with, he notes that the job can be hard, whether you’re in the mountains or in the city.

“I’ve probably been pretty lucky as far as not dealing with really violent or aggressive behavior. I haven’t had to shoot anybody or shoot at anybody or vice versa, so all in all the town has been very fortunate.”

Johns’ ability to listen and empathize was molded into a helpful law enforcement tool which enabled him to de-escalate situations, as well as avoid situations from happening all together.

“I had a guy stop in one day and we were just talking and he said, ‘you know, I was kind of on the verge of doing something really stupid and you talked me out of it.’ Those things have an effect on people’s lives that you don’t even really realize; probably in the grand scheme of things they make a bigger impact.”

“Definitely working in law enforcement you have to be able to talk to people; if you can’t then you make your job so much harder because you’re just going to amp up the situation. You don’t have to be an expert about anything, if you have a little bit of knowledge about a lot of things you can talk to people and then listen. Listening is the next biggest thing; just listening and having compassion.”

Johns’ retirement plans include him and his wife moving into a quieter lifestyle, with cabin renovations and ranch work in his future.

“I have a friend that owns a pretty fancy Dude Ranch over there so I’ll probably be working for them,” Johns said with a smile. “I could be anything from ‘fly fishing guy’ to ‘archery guy’ to ‘activities guy’ to maintenance. It’s a pretty big operation; they run over 100 horses out of there, so it’ll be a good little change.”

Though he loves the idea of serving as a “Jack-of-all-trades” on the ranch, he doesn’t totally dismiss the idea of still assisting in law enforcement duties.

“I don’t discount policing 100%. I would like to do something with Grand County Sheriffs; some sort of support services when the bigger calls happen like the emergencies, the floods. They can’t get enough help. It doesn’t necessarily have to be arresting people, there’s a lot of moving parts and pieces to be a part of.”

As for Nederland, Johns wishes to purchase a vacation home nearby, to be close to the kids and grandkids. He also hopes that the town government will focus strongly on fire mitigation, especially on an emergency egress access road for Big Springs.

“I know there’s environmental concerns but it’s not going to really matter when a wildfire rolls through there. I think they just have to do it; I know they’re close and there’s some funding, but I think it just has to get done and it has to be monitored, too,” Johns said of the project that has been in discussion for more than 12 years.

“The fire season has changed immensely in Colorado in the last four years. The fire of 2016 really showed us that in my opinion. It can happen at any point in time. We need to do some more mitigation everywhere, not just right around town.”

Johns may be retiring, but his thoughts and best wishes remain with the town where he has acted as a stalwart and resourceful leader. Our best wishes to Johns and his family in their future endeavors!

Join us in celebrating Marshal Larry Johns at his retirement party at the Nederland Community Center on Friday, May 6, 2022, from 6 to 9 p.m.