After 30.5 years serving the Bellingham community, Deputy Chief Scott Grunhurd is hanging up his duty belt for the final time on June 30, 2021. He started at BPD as an entry level officer and rose to the rank of Deputy Chief over the course of the past three decades.
Deputy Chief Grunhurd (Badge #162) was hired by the Bellingham Police Department on January 16, 1991, while still serving as a US Army Reserve soldier. His service to our country was complete in April of 1991 after serving for eight years on active duty and in a reserve capacity. He achieved the rank of staff sergeant during his enlistment. After being hired at BPD, Deputy Chief Grunhurd was sent to the Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) at the Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien, WA. Deputy Chief Grunhurd served as president of his academy class and graduated after 12 weeks of training.
He returned to Bellingham where he completed his field training and served on patrol for the next nine years. While on patrol, Deputy Chief Grunhurd became a field training officer (FTO) for the agency, responsible for training new recruit officers. He also served as a detective in the Whatcom County Gang and Drug Task Force, as a member of the BPD SWAT team, and as an acting patrol sergeant. In April of 2002, he was promoted to sergeant and spent time leading a patrol shift and then the proactive policing unit. Deputy Chief Grunhurd also became the SWAT Team Leader in 2003 and served in that role until 2007.
In July of 2011, Deputy Chief Grunhurd was promoted to Lieutenant and served as the patrol division commander and SWAT commander for two years. In 2013 he took over the Office of Professional Responsibility where he was responsible for hiring, retaining, recruiting employees for BPD and conducting internal investigations. In January of 2018, exactly 27 years after he was hired, he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Services, the position from which he retires.
Deputy Chief Grunhurd and his wife, Sheila, plan to explore as much of the country as possible with their trailer and motorcycles. We thank Deputy Chief Grunhurd for his dedicated service to our nation and community and wish him well in retirement.
