Peabody chief goes from retirement to center stage
Staff writer
Matt Neal is not your typical police chief. Apologetic and polite, he resembles a guidance counselor more than a man tasked with leading a law enforcement department.
When Neal entered his first Peabody City Council meeting July 28, he couldn’t get the door open.
“That’s not going to give anybody confidence,” he laughed.
But Neal, with his calm, friendly demeanor, might be exactly what Peabody needs to guide the department through rough waters.
Neal has spent nearly a quarter-century in police work.
“I always wanted to be a police officer growing up,” he said. “Like any 6-year-old kid, I saw cop shows on TV, little clips here and there, and I saw police officers throughout the city, and I just thought it looked like the coolest job. I liked the idea of helping people.”
He adored “Hunter,” a gritty ’80s crime drama about a homicide detective, and “CHiPs,“ a campy show about California Highway Patrol.
“I was 6, and I got the tan CHiPs costume and a motorcycle helmet for Christmas,” he said. “It was the coolest thing ever.”
Neal graduated from a police academy in 2000 and began work as a patrol officer in his hometown of Hutchinson.
In 2008, he left to become police chief in Halstead, where he worked until the following year. He was a chief in St. John for part of 2011.
In 2013, Neal took a job with the Rose Hill police department, where he worked for four years as the resource officer for the local public school.
He took a year to teach police science at Wichita State University’s technical school, then returned to Rose Hill to work directly for the school in it own small police department, where he remained until 2024.
Working at a school for a decade is perhaps where he gets his I-just-want-what’s-best-for-you demeanor.
“I’ve been lucky,” Neal said. “I’ve been able to do, for most of my adult life, what I wanted to do my whole life.”
At the start of 2024, Neal’s physical health declined.
“I’ve got a bladder disease,” he said. “It makes life painful at times. It had gotten to the point where it was extremely hard for me to wear a gun belt. I wasn’t sleeping much because of the pain, and I couldn’t do my job right.”
He also felt emotionally burned out from his 10 years on the job at Rose Hill.
He took a leave of absence and later decided to retire, leaving Rose Hill on July 17, 2024.
Retirement allowed Neal to focus more on his health. He began eating and drinking better — less soda, more water and ice tea. His bladder pain decreased significantly.
“You talk about how the department’s got to be proactive — you got to be proactive with your health, too,” he said. “I’ve learned that the hard way. And that’s something that I’m not going to let happen again.”
Neal saw that the position of Peabody chief was open earlier this summer and applied. He was hired — Mayor Catherine Weems called him “the top pick unanimously” — and officially came out of retirement July 21.
“I just felt like it was the right job,” Neal said. “I loved the idea of coming back to a small town, working as a chief again, and being able to train officers and build a department.”
As the only officer in the department, Neal has been kept busy since his appointment, patrolling, meeting business owners and city officials, and sifting through paperwork.
He was positive about his first two weeks in Peabody, particularly the local food scene.
“It’s re-energized me,” he said. “One of the things that I love about Peabody is Main St. downtown. You’ve got Pop’s Diner, you’ve got the bistro, the tea shop, the ice cream shop, the hair salon. It’s a lot of local businesses. And the food in this town is fantastic.”
Neal last worked as a police chief more than a decade ago, and rebuilding a department that shuttered in the face of resignations and scandals is a daunting task.
“There’s a lot of responsibility on the chief,” he said. “Not only are you setting the tone for your department but are you setting the tone for the city that you’re in. I think that’s important; people aren’t going to visit your town if they don’t feel safe. Citizens aren’t going to be as active at local businesses and events if they don’t feel safe.”
Neal said he felt ready to lead again.
“I knew, from my perspective, what makes a good cop,” he said. “You kind of build up your own philosophy. I knew what I wanted to build, and I felt like I had a good vision.”
Now that Peabody has a leader for its department, the question becomes who will complete its ranks.
Peabody posted a job posting for a police officer last wee. Neal has found two potential candidates so far, he said.
“It’ll be nice to have other people in the office,” he said.
Neal doesn’t watch as many cop shows these days — “I don’t like the way they shortcut everything,” he said — but he is now one of the main players in Peabody.