Northwood Police Department signs off for final time

NORTHWOOD, N.D. — That call for help is a little farther away in one Grand Forks County community.

The Northwood Police Department signed off for good on Monday afternoon, Sept. 30.

The city of Northwood has been on the map for 140 years and residents here say they can’t remember a time the city was without a police department.

On windy day, there was one big question blowing around town.

“How long will it take for the police activity to be here?” said Deb Hannestad, who works in Northwood.

The town of 900 losing its police department for good following the resignation of the city’s only officer, the police chief. He’s taking a job outside of law enforcement.

“The police department has always been good about letting us know when there has been questionable people in our town,” said Northwood resident Joanne Uglem.

The issue of of the future of the police in Northwood has been discussed for years as retaining officers has been a struggle.

“We have had tried, we have tried really hard to keep it local here, it just seems like the trend is that we need to move to a more sustainable situation,” Uglem said.

As of Monday night, Sept. 30, the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office is now responding to all calls in Northwood. It’s a 40-mile trip from the sheriff’s office headquarters in Grand Forks.
Sheriff Andy Schneider says the plan for now is to keep a deputy within five to 10 minutes of Northwood.

“We will spend more time on patrol in the city of Northwood and making sure we give them more attention, let them get to know us a little bit better,” Schneider said.

The city and sheriff’s office are working on a more permanent solution. The nearby city of Larimore pays the sheriff’s office $225,000 a year for two full-time deputies. A similar coverage plan is proposed for Northwood, which was spending $200,000 a year for a one-officer department.

There are also talks of a co-op with Larimore for services. Schneider said whatever the plan, a permanent solution likely would not be in place until May 1 at the earliest.

“Yes, we are a small town, but things do happen,” Hannestad said.

A special City Council meeting to discuss law enforcement coverage for the city of Northwood will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, at the community center.

Only two Grand Forks County communities still have their own departments — Thompson and Emerado. Both are one-person departments, with just police chiefs.

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.