Faculty Spotlight: Former Palinsboro police chief

New Criminal Justice Professor

Elizabeth Bondurant

says of her previous

job, "I really enjoyed being

in patrol. I was pretty

aggresive with my patrol

tactics...I always liked to

go out and make arrests...I

wrote a lot of tickets."

Bondurant started out in

the patrol division of the

Plainsboro Police Department.

However, despite

her bulletproof blue-eyed

gaze, her spiked red hair,

and the fact that she bench

presses 205 pounds, Bondurant

is more than just a

retired cop.

A graduate of East

Stroudsburg State University

with a B.S. in Health

and Education, Professor

Bondurant has always

envisioned herself

as a teacher, saying she

has now come full circle.

Now in her first year as a

full-time faculty member

in the Criminal Justice

department at Mercer, after

teaching part-time for

twelve years, Bondurant

says, "I don't think there's

a big transition between

being a police officer and

being a teacher, because

you need to have good

communication skills...

you need to be able to

handle people...yourself...

[and] be self-motivated, if

you're going to be good."

She took that approach in

her 25-year law enforcement

career, and she's taking

it now.

Bondurant retired

from Plainsboro Police

Department as Chief in

2008. She says of the experience:

"it was a great

job. I left at the top of my

game...I feel like I really

left a thumbprint."

Beginning on patrol

in 1983, Bondurant

felt she had to do "a little

bit more to be accepted,"

she said, adding that people

were "probably a little

more disrespectful to [her]

than they would a male

officer." She was so tough,

in fact, that she reports

people said she'd "probably

give [her] mother a

ticket," and a fellow officer

once described her saying

she's "not by the book, she

is the book", a reputation

that she says she'll "take

any day of the week".

Retired Lt. William

Kugel, a colleague of

Bondurant's for 24 years,

said "she came in and she

realized that she was in a

role...that was dominated

by men and I think she

was out to prove herself

and she was always a very

hard worker."

After being promoted

from street duty

after eleven years -four as

a patrolman and juvenile

detective and seven as a

sergeant- Bondurant did

the work of two or even

three people when she

became a lieutenant, says

Ret. Lt. Kugel. "She had a

lot of responsibility on her

hands and she did well

with it," Kugel says.

In fact, when Bondurant

was promoted to

captain 10 years later, two

people were bumped up to

fill her old post. Her list of

obligations, in addition to

overseeing the day-to-day

business of the 25 officers

in her command, included

teaching CPR, being

the internal affairs investigator,

teaching at the police

academy and writing

departmental policy. "It's

definitely just as stressful,

and weighs on you, as being

on the road. It might

even be more stressful,"

Bondurant says.

A major theme of

her policing career was a

focus on education. "I believe

in the mission of the

police agency, and I believe

that a police officer

should be professional at

all times, and I believe that

you need to lead by example.

I can't expect people

to want to further their

education if I didn't do it

myself. Education has always

been important to

me," Bondurant says.

"She came in and she

realized that she was

in a role...that was

dominated by men and

I think she was out to

prove herself and she

was always a very hard

worker."

-Ret. Lt. William Kugel

Even after entering law

enforcement, which she

did because teaching jobs

weren't available, Bondurant

worked rotating shifts

in order to complete an

M.A. in Criminal Justice

from Jersey City University.

On her own time, Bondurant

began taking certified

public management

courses while still a sergeant,

before she was sent

by the department as part

of her professional development

once she was promoted

to lieutenant.

In addition, Bondurant

was trained as a

blood-borne pathogen

instructor. She also holds

several certifications she

obtained online, augmenting

her professionally-

mandated education.

"I did all that on my own.

So, I always felt like it was

a growth process for me

both professionally and

personally. It was my career

and I wanted to be the

best I could be," she said.

Now that she's out

of law enforcement, she

feels she has the best of

both worlds. "I have all the

positives of my last job,

and none of the negatives,"

Bondurant says, smiling.

Not content to simply

teach, she's taking on

responsibility at Mercer

too. Already she's getting

involved with Scott Lowe

in the Fire Academy and

Bryon Marshall in Security

and working to create

a Community Emergency

Response Team (CERT)

on campus.

Another goal she

has is to create a volunteer

credit for students who

want to become CERT