Former Ferndale Police Chief's Missing Badge Found Decades Later

FERNDALE, MI — Here’s some feel-good Ferndale police work. Ferndale police are returning a late police chief’s badge to relatives nearly 47 years after the badge went missing.

This story first began on July 1, 1937 — the day Neil McGillis joined the Ferndale Police Department. Over the years, McGillis climbed the ranks to chief, a post he held from 1957 until he retired on Feb 28, 1969. Upon retirement, McGillis was given his badge, yet it went inexplicably missing for the next few decades.

That is until a local woman posted on the Ferndale Forum website that she first found the badge in Roseville in 1969, only to recently come across it in her Fenton home. Sgt. Baron Brown, Ferndale police’s community engagement officer, immediately connected with the woman and made plans to retrieve the badge. As Brown explains, “We didn’t want it to fall into the hands of someone whose intentions aren’t as good as hers. We hear stories all the time of people using badges to gain advantages over others or to commit crimes.”

Ferndale police, working with Fenton police, weren’t going to let that happen. They picked up the badge and will return it to McGillis’ nephew, a Ferndale resident, this week.

Michael Woody, director of media relations for the Detroit Police Department, said police badges carry a history of officers’ life calling.

“Of all of the things you possess during your career, the badge is the culmination of it all,” he told The Detroit News. “It’s where your power as an officer extends from. It’s right there in forefront of your experiences and emotions as an officer, from complaints to the thank yous.”

And it turns out the people of Ferndale owe a big thank you to McGillis. At his 1970 funeral, then-Mayor Bruce Garbutt spoke of McGillis’ leadership prowess and credited him for helping safeguard Ferndale during Detroit’s violent 1967 riot.

Image courtesy of Ferndale police