New Peabody officer is learning the town
Staff writer
Peabody’s new police officer has seen it all, good and bad.
At the behest of Police Chief Matthew Neal, Jessica La Valley was hired by the city last month to be a full-time officer
“I reached out to her because I needed someone with experience,” Neal said.
He said he wanted an officer who knew how to do small-town policing and had the ability to get to know people living there.
“I knew it was a small town,” La Valley said. “I thought it would be easier to get to know the people. It’s a cute town, but it will take time to learn the people.”
La Valley was Jill of all trades before turning to law enforcement.
She worked at Casey’s, Papa John’s, in property preservation, at Subway, as a branch loan manager in what she called loan sharking, at retail outlets, and elsewhere.
In 2009, La Valley was hired as a medical assistant at a dialysis center, but the long hours resulted in her resigning.
She then became a nurse’s aide, but when a patient lashed out and hit her really hard, she could not respond, so that was the end of that profession.
She enrolled at Newman University, a private college in Wichita, to study criminal justice and business administration. She later dropped business administration to focus on criminal justice.
After an internship with the Wichita police department, she was hired at the Conway Springs police department in 2014 as a part-time officer. She graduated from police training while there.
Eventually, a friend persuaded her to apply to the Butler County sheriff’s office, which at first chose not to hire La Valley because of her bad credit.
She would not take no for an answer and applied a second time.
“They eventually did hire me because they wanted a female police officer with experience,” she said.
But working with the sheriff’s office was not easy because of her being outspoken about the actions of a few fellow officers.
“If I see something wrong, I will say it,” she said. “It caused a lot of problems for me. I will not tolerate anyone doing anything wrong.”
She reported what she observed to her supervisor.
After leaving the sheriff’s office, La Valley was hired at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs before eventually returning to the Conway Springs department.
After two months at Conway Springs, Neal asked her to join him in Peabody.
La Valley plans on staying with the Peabody department for two to three years.
“She’s done a fantastic job,” Neal said. “She does things quickly and the right way.”