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In 1976, Bonnie was raising a young son and working as a secretary at a local radio station in San Francisco. One day a CHP patrol officer came into the station to post flyers for recruiting women officers. Bonnie thought this would be a wonderful career for someone but when she noticed the starting salary was 40% higher than what she was currently making, she decided to be that someone!
When Bonnie started the training academy in September of 1977 she was 26 years old. And although Bonnie’s mother had been in the U.S. Army, Bonnie did not have any military experience herself so the training was quite an awakening. However, Bonnie, like her Mom, handled it! Her determination and the tremendous family support she received helped make graduation day all the sweeter.
Bonnie’s first assignment was as a patrol officer in the San Francisco area. Then in 1982, she was offered a special assignment in the Background Investigations and Recruitment Unit in the Golden Gate Division.
Next, she did undercover assignments with the Auto Theft Unit in her agency. During her tour here, she was the first female on her department to receive an award for stolen vehicle recoveries and she received the Commissioner’s Citation for outstanding achievement in the area of vehicle theft.
However, even after all this, Off. Stanton’s first love was still patrol so in 1991 she went back on the road as an acting sergeant assigned to the Oakland area.
In 1992, she was promoted to Sergeant. She was assigned as the Statewide Coordinator of the Applicant Investigations Unit in Sacramento. However, patrol kept calling to her, as, in 1993, she returned to her first love.
However, in 1994, things start to get interesting. Sergeant Stanton was assigned to supervise a 12-officer team in “Operation Crackdown”. This was a joint Community Outreach program targeted to combat drive by shootings, murders and drug dealing in the City of Richmond. She and her team did such a terrific job that when the Richmond Police Department wanted to do the operation again 3 years later, they asked the California Highway Patrol, and specifically for Bonnie and her team, to assist them again.
Another first came in 1997. Sergeant Stanton became the first African American female to reach the rank of Lieutenant. Her assignment now was the Field Operations Officer in San Francisco.
Then another first in July of 2000 as Lieutenant Stanton became a Captain – the first African American female to reach this pinnacle as well. As captain, she was transferred to the Golden Gate Communications center as their Commander.
Yet another first happened on August 30, 2002 as Captain Stanton again made history when she was promoted to the rank of Assistant Chief of the California Highway Patrol. Assistant Chief Stanton is the only African American female to have reached this high rank in the CHP history.