Grand Forks police chief to retire after 40-year career

GRAND FORKS — One of the region’s most recognizable law enforcement officers is about to sign off the radio for the final time.

Grand Forks Police Chief Mark Nelson will take off his badge for the last time on Friday, Sept. 20.

Nelson said the decision to retire was an easy one. He made the decision nearly 10 years ago when he took over as chief that he would retire in September 2024.

Along with the patrol cruisers, much has changed over Nelson’s career. He points to how much technology is now in each police car and how many passwords officers need to remember. That wasn’t a problem when he first started at the Grand Forks Police Department in 1988.

“When I walked through the door, we would buy space pens because the ink would not freeze in the wintertime,” he said.

Nelson, 60, who also spent more than three decades with the North Dakota National Guard, said it was a Minot police officer who visited his history class in seventh grade who inspired him to pursue a career in law enforcement.

“He wasn’t talking about how fast he got to drive, how all the extra things that you do, shoot guns,” he said. “He talked about working with people, caring about people, and I don’t know, it just resonated with me. I tried to live by that the rest of my life.”

Nelson started his career with the Ward County Sheriff’s Department. After four years there, he spent the past 36 years with the GFPD, the last decade as the chief.

Along with improving the day-to-day operations, Nelson spent a lot of time focusing on community relationships.

“I tell my guys if the first time you’ve ever dealt with someone in the community is on a negative interaction, we’ve failed as a department,” he said.

That community support was so important on May 27, 2020, the day Officer Cody Holte was shot and killed during a police ambush; easily the worst day of his career.

“No. 1, being in the room with the family when they were told Cody did not make it; two, making the call to his twin brother, who at the time was a Fargo cop, that Cody did not make it. How do you tell your department, how do you look up and stand up in front of 100 people and say we lost a family member today?” Nelson said.

What he will miss the most, he said, is the people, especially the young officers. About half of the nearly 100 officer force have only been with the department for less than four years.

“Watching people achieve what they want to, and knowing I have had people in my office and you give them a little bit of advice and then they get that position they were seeking and they come in and thank you, or just watching them foster and grow and challenge themselves,” he said.

Nelson said it still hasn’t fully sunk in, that for the first time since he started working at age 11, he won’t need to be anywhere that day. Nelson also served with the National Guard for 34 years, including two deployments. Along with family time, the chief plans to do some shopping.

“I always make the joke — I’ll have to buy clothes because I’ve worn a uniform for 40 years, I don’t have much of a wardrobe, to be honest with you,” he said.

Mayor Brandon Bochenski said he waited until Nelson retired before launching a nationwide search. He hopes to pick a new chief by the end of the year.

Lt. Dwight Love will serve as interim chief until a new chief is hired.

Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.