TIMERLAKE, Ohio — In Lake County, there's a new chief in town and she's making history.
Susan Scofield was promoted from a part-time officer position to permanent full-time chief of police in the village of less than 1,000 residents. Scofield is serving as the department's first-ever female chief.
"I was approached by the mayor after my former chief recommended me for the full-time job," she said. "And I said yes."
Scofield has worked at the village police department for the past decade. But, the new chief has been a dedicated law enforcement officer since 1978.
"I started my career in Atlanta, Georgia," she said. "I came back home to the Cleveland area in 1991 and brought my son with me to grow up by family and worked as a campus police officer for 17 years."
Upon her departure from the campus police gig, she worked to restore her Victorian home to turn it into a restaurant. But that was during the market downfall of 2008. So she, once again, found her way back into law enforcement.
"I've worked a series of off duty police jobs for security companies while I worked part time here at Timberlake," Chief Scofield said.
While she's serving as the first female chief of Timerlake, this isn't her first rodeo making history. She was the first female in the Cobb County Police Department to switch from working inside what she called the radio room to a full-time road patrol officer.
Chief Scofield said many aspects of policing has changed since she first entered in 1978, but she plans to remain dedicated to community policing in Timberlake.
"We are a residential community, a close knit community," she said. "We focus on pleasing our residents patrolling our village streets."
