(Washington D.C.) In fifth grade, Catrina Bonus walked the neighborhoods surrounding her elementary school on safety patrol. She grew up wanting to be just like her mom, a patrol officer with the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department.
As Bonus got older, the plan never changed – until 1995, when she attended the memorial service of Alan Whicher, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the U.S. Secret Service who, along with five other employees in the agency’s Oklahoma City Field Office, lost their lives in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Her father, a U.S. Secret Service special agent, gave the eulogy.
"I looked around at the hundreds of people from the agency there to support the Whicher family and understood why my dad called it a big, extended family," Bonus said. "I decided then that I would follow in my father’s footsteps, and the Secret Service was where I wanted to be." One year later, Bonus became a U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officer assigned to the White House Branch.
Now, after 22 years in the Uniformed Division, Inspector Catrina Bonus has been appointed as Deputy Chief – the first female to achieve that rank. According to Uniformed Division Chief Thomas J. Sullivan, "Catrina’s passion for connecting with people enhances her skills and leadership within the Secret Service Uniformed Division. Her leadership style is one of inclusion and cooperation mixed with over 22 years of operational experience. She is a great addition to the Uniformed Division leadership team."
Bonus has held many leadership positions in the White House Branch, Foreign Missions Branch, the Naval Observatory Branch, and Special Operations Division – Magnetometer Operations Office and the Office of the Chief, among others. She has also been the Uniformed Division coordinator for several National Special Security Events.
Over the last few years, continuing education has been a priority for Bonus as she recognized the need to prepare herself for this type of leadership position. While working as a full-time employee, being a wife and, most importantly, a mother to a young child, Bonus earned her master’s degree from Liberty University. She also earned a second master’s degree from the National Defense University and is currently in a career development program for the U.S. Secret Service Senior Executive Service.
Bonus said that becoming the Deputy Chief is a humbling experience, and it’s an honor to lead such a dedicated group of men and women. She said that it is the support of her family, her mentors, Secret Service leadership, and those she works with everyday who have helped her reach this point in her career. She says it is important to set the best example possible to those she works with and, the one person she has to set the biggest example for is waiting at home.
At six years old, Bonus’ daughter, Adalyn, already sees the importance of commitment and the dedication to serve through her mom and her dad, Brian, who is a Secret Service Senior Special Agent. While Adalyn may not know yet if she too will join law enforcement, Adalyn recently corrected one of her friends, who called her mom a "police officer." "My mom’s not just an officer. She’s a boss."