City's first woman officer to retire

Julee Bunderson was Mountain Home's first female cop, setting a standard by which others are measured even today.

Even as a child, Julee Bunderson knew that she wanted to be a police officer. Growing up at her parent's home in Ely, Nev., she would often pretend that she was a sheriff, wearing a cowboy hat and a badge as she brought bad guys to justice.

At the time, it never dawned on her that she would spend much of her life wearing the badge of a police officer while at the same time serving as a role model for other women.

During a ceremony this Friday afternoon, Mountain Home's first female police officer will step away from her duties to this community when she retires from the city police force.

A petite individual with short, blond hair, Bunderson is normally reluctant to stand in the spotlight herself. As she reflected on the decisions that led her to a career with the city police, she struggled a bit as she recalled how her childhood desire to be the "good guy" led her to a lifetime of service.

She started on her quest to become a police officer shortly after high school. Majoring in criminal justice at Boise State University, she went on to earn her degree in 1980.

"This was my career. This was something I always wanted to do," she said.

In February 1981, her dreams took flight when she became a patrol deputy in Fairfield. However, her time there was short lived after her duties changed, limiting her to conduct patrol work within the confines of the rural community.

Her desire to do more to serve others led her to apply for a patrol officer position at the Mountain Home Police Department. She was hired in June 1981, becoming the city's first female patrol officer.

Because of that distinction, Bunderson admits those first few months were pretty stressful. As the department's first woman officer, "I knew I had to prove myself," she said.

Much of that determination was due, in part, to the perceptions of some police departments in other parts of the country, which frowned on the idea of having women filling patrol duties, considering them "taboo," she said.

However, the Mountain Home Police Department was far more open minded when it came to women in the ranks, she added. Despite that, she was still a bit apprehensive during her first months on the job. "I was scared. I just wanted to do a good job," she said.

But in time, she came to realize that the department had fully accepted her as a fellow officer. "They took a chance by hiring me, but I think they were happy they did," she said.

During her first three weeks on patrol, Bunderson rode with Police Sgt. Jim Patterson, who helped introduce her to the responsibilities associated with enforcing laws in Mountain Home.

They were fairly routine days, she recalled.

Just three weeks later, Bunderson would have her own patrol car as the city's only daytime patrol officer. She had to turn to the county sheriff's department if she ever needed backup.

After six months with the city police department, she attended the post academy in Boise where she completed her initial law enforcement training.

Looking back, she admitted that while most days were fairly routine, that wasn't always the case. She remembered one memorable night in which she got a call to pursue a suspicious driver on the interstate. At the time, she was helping train a junior patrol officer.

The pursuit started off fairly routine until the driver turned around and came straight at the patrol car before he lost control and rolled his vehicle. It wasn't clear if he intended on ramming Bunderson's patrol car, but it still left her wondering "what if?"

But instances like this were few and far in between over the next 10 years before she was promoted to police corporal. In 1994, she was promoted again to a patrol sergeant.

A few years later, she was promoted as the department's detective. It was a drastic change from regular patrol work.

"That was a very stressful time," she said. "It's a lot more stressful being a detective."

In addition to getting called out in the middle of the night to start an investigation, she had to remain focused on minor details while using an in-depth approach to solve cases. Bunderson tended to take things personally whenever she missed even a minor clue regarding these crimes.

However, her success as a detective led to a number of arrests. She remembered cracking a case involving a burglary ring in Mountain Home in which the suspect broke into more than eight local businesses. Through time-consuming, pain-staking work, she identified a man originally from New York as the one behind these crimes.

Bunderson recalled another case in which a routine call led to a major drug bust. Brought in to question a suspicious individual at the Chevron Service Station on the city's north side, she discovered the suspect had stuffed a significant amount of cocaine in his boots with an estimated street value of more than $45,000.

She felt a level of satisfaction knowing those drugs were kept off the streets.

In addition to serving as the city's first woman police officer and detective, Bunderson can also lay claim to another first in Mountain Home. In 2007, she was named the city's acting police chief after former chief Tom Berry stepped down for health reasons. She took charge of the department again in 2011 after police chief John Walter moved out of state.

Looking back at her time as the interim police chief, she noted that "being the actual person to make actual decisions (running the entire department)... was kind of overwhelming."

Over the past three decades, Bunderson is appreciative of one important fact. While her duties required her to draw her weapon many times during her career in self defense, she never had to fire it.

In fact, the city never had a recorded case of a police officer ever having to use their service weapon to defend themselves, she added.

Looking to the future, Bunderson sees no signs of slowing down. In addition to taking time to go travel or head to the mountains for some camping, she plans to enjoy her retirement years helping to remodel her home in addition to her mother's place. She even plans on taking trips to Seattle on occasion to catch a Seattle Seahawks or Mariners game.

Will she miss being a police officer? Absolutely, she said.

In addition to missing the camaraderie of her fellow officers that she considers close friends, there's something else she'll equally miss -- knowing that she made a positive difference in the lives of people in this community.

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The Mountain Home Police Department will honor Lt. Bunderson with an open house going away party and retirement ceremony Friday from 1-3 p.m. in the department's training classroom.