Police News and Events

Our past and our future met the other day.

BPD Sgt Gordy Benner (ret., 1981), Badge #019, is our most senior retired officer. Last week he got to meet one of our most junior officers, Officer Amy Balonick, Badge #312.

Sgt Benner showed Officer Balonick what our patches used to look like and donated his two traffic whistles to our little museum in the BPD lobby.

We thank you for your service to the citizens of Bellingham and your continued support of BPD, Sgt Benner! Way to enjoy that retirement. 💙

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After 38 years with the police department, Detective Sue Howell (Badge #157) retires today.

Detective Howell was born and raised in Whatcom County and is a proud Nooksack Valley Pioneer! After graduating high school, she went to college at Eastern Washington University. Detective Howell was hired by the city of Bellingham on December 12, 1982 as a 9-1-1 dispatcher at What-Comm. After eight years working as a dispatcher, Detective Howell applied for and was hired as a police officer on October 1, 1990.

As all newly hired police officers, she went to the Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien and then back here for her field training. Detective Howell started out in the patrol division, responding to 9-1-1 calls. In 1993, Detective Howell was selected to be an elementary school DARE officer and worked with kids in the schools for three years. Detective Howell returned to patrol and became a master patrol officer and trained new officers coming out of the academy during their field training. Passing along her incredible work ethic to all of them.

Detective Howell spent three years as the department’s training officer, followed by a rotation to patrol and then into the Investigations Division as a temporary detective. After two years, she went back to patrol and then was promoted permanently to detective in October of 2011.

Detective Howell has spent the last nine years in the Special Victim’s Unit, which is responsible for investigating all sexual assault cases, serious domestic violence cases, homicide and those crimes perpetrated against our most vulnerable - our children. Detective Howell also ensured registered sex offenders complied with their registration requirements, and if not, paid the consequences by putting together solid cases against them.

Detective Howell was dedicated to the mission of ending sexual violence in survivors’ lives. She worked on some incredibly difficult cases, keeping the enormous amount of details impeccably organized and always remaining devoted to the safety and security of survivors.

October was good month for Detective Howell over her career, she was hired on October 1, 1990 as an officer. She was promoted to detective on October 1, 2011 and she retires after serving the citizens of Bellingham for 38 years on October 27, 2020.

Detective Howell, while you will be missed, go and enjoy your well-deserved retirement, golfing and hanging out in the sunshine. Thank you for 38 years! ... See more

Helping Hands -

We got this message on our Facebook page the other day:

"Hello! I just wanted to say how proud I am to have police like the one who helped my best friend out recently. This kind officer went out of his way to help my friend - I don't know who he is, but I think he did a wonderful thing. He got a new gas hose from a nearby auto store and even went so far as to replace it, crawling under in uniform and fixing the problem. I'm sure happy that this officer was there to aid my friend - the department is fortunate to have officers like this. Thanks"

It took a couple of days to figure out who the officer was, but we did, and Officer Avery Lyons is the one who lent a helping hand and his mechanical acumen to this stranded citizen. We thank Officer Lyons for going above and beyond and showing his commitment to community.

In the second photo, you can see a group of Bellingham 9th graders who are in a learning cohort, attending home school together each day. They came to get a couple of very important lessons from our officers. Sgt Scanlon and Traffic Officer Furdyk spent some time speaking to the class about traffic safety laws. Important as these teens are getting closer to getting their permits to drive. This group also got a class on internet safety taught by our very own recently retired Detective Pauline Renick! Also very important given the increased amount kids are spending on screens and computers during this time.

We thank our officers for continuing to make a difference in our kids' lives by teaching these ever-so-important lessons during these very different times. Masks, individual desks, loads of sanitizer all make for a very different look for a class.

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