SOUTH LYON – The city has a new police chief and she’s making history.
Bonnie Unruh’s first day on the job was Aug. 14, and she is the first woman to lead the city’s police department, Mayor Steve Kennedy said.
“It has nothing to do with gender, it’s based on her qualifications,” Kennedy added. “Still, it’s exciting. I’m delighted. She is a welcome addition to the community.”
Unruh’s hiring by City Manager Paul Zelenak closely follows another historic first, the hiring of Cindy Conrad, the city’s first female fire chief.
“Having a female police chief and fire chief at the same time, shows South Lyon is very progressive,” Unruh said. “I think that’s uncommon… I am excited about the job and what we can do as a police department. It’s a great opportunity.”
Unruh, 60, first became interested in law enforcement in the early 1980s, when there were still very few women in the male-dominated profession. When she expressed interest in a policing internship to her high school counselor, she recalls being told, “Oh honey, let’s leave that for the boys,” and was instead encouraged to go into hotel management.
Rather than being deterred, Unruh, who graduated from Livonia Churchill High School in 1983, only became more determined to get into law enforcement. She also would not be dissuaded by her police officer brother and when she was 21, was hired as a Livonia Police Department reserve officer. A few years later she became a Farmington Hills police cadet and was sent to the Oakland Police Academy.
What followed was a 32-year career with Farmington Hills police, where she rose through the ranks from a patrol officer, to crime prevention, to detective, with promotions to sergeant, lieutenant, commander (captain), and finally to assistant police chief, all with numerous awards along the way, including three recognitions as police officer of the year.
Farmington Hills Mayor Pro-Tem Bill Dwyer, who had a 61-year law enforcement career spanning Detroit, Warren, and as Farmington Hills Police Chief, hired Unruh as a cadet and later promoted her to be Farmington Hills’ first female lieutenant and finally, first female assistant police chief.
“She was outstanding in every respect,” Dwyer said Wednesday. “She is a great person and won numerous awards for community policing. She will be a real asset and benefit to South Lyon… Her leadership abilities are excellent, she is compassionate and the police department will appreciate having her, without question.”
Unruh earned her associate’s degree in criminal justice from Schoolcraft College before transferring to Madonna University for her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. She earned her master’s degree in emergency management and homeland security from Eastern Michigan University, where she also received executive leadership training in the School of Staff and Command. She is certified through the State of Michigan as a professional emergency manager.
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The Brighton resident has been married for the past 32 years to Farmington Hills Fire Chief Jon Unruh and the couple have three children: daughter Megan, a firefighter/paramedic who works at the Wayne County Airport Authority Fire Department; son Brendan, a Livonia firefighter/paramedic; and daughter Sydney, a student at Eastern Michigan University, studying to be a kindergarten teacher.
Bonnie Unruh retired as Farmington Hills assistant police chief in 2021 as she “felt it was time to step aside and let others move up” and accepted a job opportunity in the private sector, becoming assistant director of campus safety at Concordia University in Ann Arbor. She also worked part-time as a seasonal marine deputy for the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department.When the South Lyon police chief position came open as a result of Doug Baaki’s retirement in July, Unruh applied, seeing a “perfect fit” at a community policing agency in a city “small enough to get to know everybody, but large enough to still make a difference.”
Unruh prefers a proactive approach to law enforcement, rather than a reactive one, saying, “If you see a problem, you solve it. You don’t wait to get dispatched and take a report.”
“My philosophy is a low crime rate is better than a high arrest rate in communities,” she continued. “It’s better to prevent citizens from being a victim of crime.”
The challenge Unruh faces is one she says is faced by everyone in law enforcment – finding people that want to be police officers, particularly as officers with more than three decades in want to retire.
Unruh encourages those interested in law enforcement to come work for the South Lyon Police Department, which has a budget for 17 employees.
“We have a lot going on here and the citizens are great,” Unruh said. “I am looking forward to getting involved in the community.”
Contact reporter Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com or 517-281-2412.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: South Lyon hires female police chief, first woman to lead the department
Reporting by Susan Bromley, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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