Danny Anthrop is rolling down Ninth Street in his Lafayette Police Department cruiser. It’s only June, but summer already has a tight grip on Lafayette.

Anthrop scans the horizon over the dashboard of the Ford Explorer as voices chirp from a dispatch radio.

“Things don’t usually get interesting until the sun goes down,” says Anthrop.

Anthrop loves this. He has been on the force since 2017. Not long ago, he was catching passes and scoring touchdowns for Purdue across the Wabash River in West Lafayette. He even went to training camp with the Indianapolis Colts and had a cup of coffee in the CFL.

Catching passes for money was a dream. And so was being a law enforcement officer. When football didn’t work out, Anthrop pivoted his career goal to serving and protecting.

“It first became a passion in high school,” he says.

More on that later.

Anthrop pulls his cruiser into a church parking lot, puts it in park and lets the engine idle.

“Right here, this is where there’s a lot going on most nights,” says Anthrop, pointing to the parking lot of a gas station that is notorious for criminal activity.

Lafayette is Anthrop’s town. One of the greatest prep players in Tippecanoe County history, Anthrop’s name dotted the headlines as a star football player at Lafayette Central Catholic High School. Final numbers: 107 touchdowns and three state titles.

Anthrop was unstoppable.

He’s part of a famous family headed by dad, John, a basketball player at Purdue in the late-1970s. Oldest brother Jade played hoops at St. Joe’s, while second oldest Dru was on Matt Painter’s squad. Danny chose football, starring at receiver from 2012-15. Youngest brother Jackson followed Danny to Purdue, just wrapping up his career last season. Even mom Jana was an über athlete back in the day at Jeff High School.

Who’s the best Anthrop athlete?

“You have to ask my dad,” says Danny, smiling as he reaches for a can of Mango Loco Monster Energy drink in the console.

Anthrop has no time for sports debates now. He has work to do. The sun is starting to set. He’s ready to go, sporting a body camera, Glock 17, taser, flashlight … and he still looks very capable of running down and tackling a perpetrator. Don’t test him.

“I like the body camera,” says Anthrop. “It is a huge tool for police in general and for court use.”

Anthrop operates on a two-week schedule. One week, he works Tuesday and Thursday. The next week, it’s Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each shift is 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“Friday and Saturday nights can be crazy,” he says. “Holidays, too. Sundays? We call them ‘Revenge Sundays.’ “

Anthrop also is part of Lafayette’s SWAT team. His role: sniper. He has a couple rifles in the back of his vehicle. He's ready. He's always ready.

Fiance Lauryn gets it. She’s a fellow Lafayette officer—and a veteran. Yes, they met on the job.

A May 2023 wedding is planned.

When at full force, the Lafayette police department has 150 sworn-in employees. It isn’t at capacity. The effort to recruit is on-going. Anthrop has been to Purdue and Ball State looking for prospects. The outreach is persistent.

Recent events across America have often cast law enforcement agencies in an unfavorable light. Is it right? Is it wrong? Depends on what side of the discussion you are on. Anthrop gets it.

He feels the eyes on him as he pulls into an apartment complex on the south end of Lafayette. Officers often are summoned to the complex for an array of reasons. Among them: shootings.

• What are the police doing here?

• What do they want?

“I have someone say something to me almost every day at some point,” fesses Anthrop.

Anthrop spots a group of kids running about, playing, enjoying the last few hours of daylight on a scooter. Officer Taylor Turner arrives and pulls his police cruiser alongside Anthrop’s. They get out and engage the kids.

“What’s going on?” says Anthrop.

The children smile and approach. Anthrop pops the rear door on his cruiser and looks for a ball—anything—in the back to give the kids. He has some Frisbees. They soon fill the air.

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Community engagement is vital for the Lafayette police. It is for every department. A sense of trust constantly has to be fostered and developed between the police and the public. Every little interaction matters. And, this is one of those bits.

Next stop is an equally notorious apartment complex also on the south end of Lafayette. The scene on this Thursday night is similar to the one at the previous complex: Kids about, having fun. The children surround Anthrop and Turner.

“What’s your name?” Anthrop says to a young boy on a bike.

“Sincere,” he says.

Anthrop notices the hand brakes on Sincere’s green bike are broken. And, Anthrop has an idea: Let’s get him a new set of wheels.

Within 30 minutes, Turner returns with a shiny green and black bike. It’s perfect.

“Really?” says Sincere, beaming. “It’s for me?”

Interactions like this make being an officer rewarding. But realities of the job are just around the corner.

Anthrop is constantly scanning the Dell laptop affixed to the dashboard. It’s his lifeline of information.

“See this?” he says, pivoting the screen and pointing. “The red areas are current hot spots for crime in the Lafayette area."

The city is sectioned into zones by the Lafayette police department. Anthrop’s area is the north end, which includes downtown, north of downtown with Sagamore Parkway the east boundary.

Ask Anthrop about the time he was called to deal with a stabbing between Hells Angels and Mongols at a bar off I-65. Or when he was summoned to Hartford Street downtown and helped save a man’s life after his torso and legs had been riddled with bullets. Anthrop's cruiser also was broadsided by an inattentive driver while responding to an accident scene. And he’ll never forget consoling a mother whose son had committed suicide.

“If I wasn’t doing this in Lafayette, I don’t think I’d be doing it,” says Anthrop. “The chance to help other people is important to me, no matter how big or small. And to do it here is great.

“Getting hurt is the least of my worries.”

As junior in high school, Anthrop found his uncle pinned under a truck on the family farm. It was cold and snowy. The uncle had been there for a long time. He wasn’t in good shape. It was dire. Anthrop called 9-1-1.

“And the sound of sirens coming was one of the best sounds I had ever heard,” says Anthrop. “Help was on the way. The police were the first to arrive.”

Anthrop’s uncle was OK. It’s an event that forever changed his life.

“It is why I do this,” says Anthrop.

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