Woodridge Names New Police Chief After Gina Grady's 30-Year Run

Woodridge has a new police chief: Brian Cunningham, who worked as Deputy Chief at the Naperville Police Department, will be joining the village's force this November, the Village announced this week.

Cunningham, who was also directing the Investigations Division of his department in Naperville, has been working in law enforcement for three decades. He was chosen as the result of a long, statewide search for a new police chief that included public interview panels, community input and looking at professional qualifications.

“We are excited to have Brian begin his duties as Woodridge’s next Chief of Police,” Mayor Gina Cunningham — no relation to Brian — said in a statement. “He has an impressive background in policing and an excellent reputation in the law enforcement community.”

The mayor said she found it amusing she just shared a first name with former Police Chief Gina Grady and will now share a last name with the new chief.

Grady retired Sept. 28.

Brian Cunningham studied at Governor’s State University to obtain his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice before attending Northwestern University Staff and Command, the Colorado State University Rocky Mountain Leadership Course and the Senior Management Institute for Policing.

That doesn’t end his list of accolades, though — Cunningham is also a member of the Naperville Honor Guard Unit, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, is a founding member and current president of the Illinois Homicide Investigators Association and has been an adjunct professor at the College of DuPage.

He will be managing and directing the activities of about 65 employees at Woodridge’s police department.

“I’m honored by this opportunity,” Cunningham said in a statement. “I look forward to meeting community members, as well as getting to know the men and women that make up the Woodridge Police Department, and the rest of the Village of Woodridge staff.”

Cunningham is scheduled to be sworn in as Police Chief Nov. 3 at the Village’s next board meeting.

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Photo courtesy of the Village of Woodridge.