'More I could contribute': Johnny Grant out of retirement, back in law enforcement

When Johnny Grant started to work as a police officer in Altoona in 1975, there was no grand plan to fulfill a childhood dream.

With a young child at home and a truck-driving job that kept him on the road, Grant saw an opportunity.

Rick Nash, Altoona police chief at the time, and now the town’s mayor, offered him a job, and Grant decided to give it a try. He went to the police academy for certification and worked in Altoona for three years.

“There wasn’t anything in particular that brought me to law enforcement, and I didn’t dread going to work every day,” Grant says. “I liked talking to people and helping out when I could.”

Now, with almost five decades of law enforcement under his belt, Grant, at age 73, has come out of retirement to serve as assistant sheriff to Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton.

He will fill in for Horton as needed and provide guidance to the command staff in daily operations of the sheriff’s office.

“I’m excited about the wealth of knowledge and experience that Johnny brings to the office of the sheriff,” Horton said.

Through the years, Grant filled just about every role there is at the sheriff’s office.

Years of experience

That knowledge began in Altoona and only continued to expand as Grant joined the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office in 1978 as a deputy for a few years, then as a narcotics investigator.

He changed jobs and served as an investigator with the Etowah County District Attorney’s office from 1987 to 1996.

Retired District Attorney James Hedgpeth wanted him to work closely with the narcotics division at the sheriff’s office and other local departments, and he worked on several major crime investigations.

Grant went back to the sheriff’s office in 1996 as chief of corrections and then served as chief of investigations until 2007.

From 2007 to his retirement in 2012, he served as chief deputy.

After retirement, he worked part time as an investigator in the DA’s office and served as police chief in Altoona from 2014 to 2020. He was elected as the District 2 representative on the Etowah County Commission in 2016.

"I’ve had an opportunity to work with so many great people through the years,” Grant said.

Rulings by the attorney general and the Alabama Ethics Commission in recent years now allow someone elected to the County Commission to also hold a position within the county government.

As a criminal investigator, Horton worked under Grant in 2003 and 2004.

“Johnny has experience leading each division of the sheriff's office under four previous sheriff's including Felton Yates, Roy McDowell, James Hayes and Todd Entrekin,” Horton said. He is the fifth sheriff Grant has served under.

“The knowledge and experience he has gained over four decades is an invaluable asset to the sheriff’s office,” Horton said.

When Grant retired from his full-time role in 2012, he knew his career in law enforcement helped define him.

“I knew I would miss it,” he said.

But as the Albert Einstein saying goes, the only source of knowledge is experience. And it’s Grant’s years of experience that placed him in a position to give back.

“Law enforcement has always been my life," he said. “Even though I had retired, I just felt like there was still more that I could contribute.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Law enforcement veteran Johnny Grant comes out of retirement