When Marlanna Landeros discusses her father’s career, it boils down to a few words: integrity, ethics, professionalism, and teaching.
As the first director of the University of Michigan-Flint Police Department, Lonnie Landeros modeled for employees and emphasized the importance of operating with the utmost integrity, ethics, and professionalism.
Those traits set the bar high, but still characterize the spirit of the organization decades later.
“My dad’s literally the first on many levels at UM-Flint because he created the director position,” says Landeros, the Assistant Director of the Adolescent Health Initiative at the University of Michigan Health.
“When I think of my dad and about all the things that he’s done, I would say it’s OK to be the first. It’s OK to build. It’s OK to say that something needs to happen, something needs to change.”
Lonnie Landeros led public safety at UM-Flint for 13 years, starting as a security manager, but later being deputized as a sworn officer, at the same time UMPD in Ann Arbor evolved to sworn officers.
It was one incident that made it clear it was necessary. A man came into a university office, threatened the secretary and implied he had a weapon under his coat.
The woman was unharmed, but it underscored the need to have a campus police department.
“So (it was) adding a level of professionalism, ‘here’s how we are moving forward, here’s things we should be doing,’” Landeros says of her dad’s early work. “So a lot of that groundwork, laying the foundation was done in the late eighties when he took the job. So I would say that foundation is what makes the difference.”
Lonnie also opened doors for those who were in marginalized spaces.
“He opened up opportunities for women,” Landeros says. “He opened up opportunities for LGBTQIA+, (making sure) people had jobs, were respected and (were in) places and spaces at UM-Flint.”
But his career impact went beyond the UM-Flint’s campus and the law enforcement profession.
Before joining UM-Flint, Lonnie served 24 years with the Detroit Police Department. There, he rose through the ranks during a time of racial unrest and retired after 24 years as an inspector.
Equally impressive, Lonnie, whose childhood dream was to become a police officer, was a founding charter member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), a group that was founded in 1976 and now has 4,800 members in 60 chapters nationwide.
Lonnie also taught criminal justice and corrections at Wayne County Community College for more than 30 years.
“If anybody was to say my dad’s name out loud or (ask) what would be his legacy, it would be centered around integrity and being ethical,” Landeros says. “And I would say legacy is showing someone from the beginning, all they ever wanted to do was to serve.
“It’s OK to serve and to serve selflessly…because you know it’s the right thing to do at the right time.”