Jill Schramm/MDN Surrey Police Chief Kevin Howe, left, stands outside the Surrey Police headquarters Friday with department officers, from left, Anna Olson, Sadie Patterson and Heather Howe.

SURREY – Women may account for only about 13% of U.S. sworn officers, but one small Ward County town doesn’t concern itself with statistics. All three officers in the Surrey Police Department led by Chief Kevin Howe are women.

Those officers agree that being part of an all-female force has been amazing.

“Law enforcement – in and of itself – there’s a brotherhood to it. But having the sisterhood is great, too,” Officer Anna Olson said.

Olson, Minot, was Surrey’s first female officer and has been with the department for more than four years. She previously worked as a correctional officer at the Ward County Jail and with Probation and Parole.

Olson said working at the jail was a good experience but she wanted to get out on patrol. The opportunity presented itself in Surrey.

“I also like the idea of being a small town and getting to know people more personally and having more of a bond with the community,” she said.

Officer Sadie Patterson, Granville, has been with the Surrey department for about nine months. She previously spent two and half years with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. She was attracted to a small department that could offer additional experience.

“It’s been a change of pace that I’ve enjoyed,” she said.

Officer Heather Howe, of Surrey, has been filling in part-time as needed for about the past six months. She was a parole officer for 14 years and currently works as a group facilitator at an outpatient treatment facility in Minot.

The daughter of Chief Howe, she saw a part-time job with the department as an opportunity to stay in touch with the law enforcement field while pursuing her master’s degree in addiction counseling.

Olson said she enjoys getting to experience all aspects of law enforcement, rather than specializing as often happens in larger departments.

“Here we deal with all of it, so that’s kind of neat. We get a wider variety of experience,” she said.

The three Surrey officers do bar checks and stop by the local convenience store, which not only lets them keep an eye on things but creates opportunities to visit with local residents.

Their community policing includes walkthroughs at the Surrey school, monitoring the student drop-off and pick-up periods and occasionally having lunch with students. Patterson said she had been working in McHenry County toward becoming a school resource officer.

“Going from five schools to one is a little different,” she said. “It definitely changed for me, going from a county that was 2,000 square miles to this little town. But it’s been a good change.”

Heather Howe said the police department is respected in Surrey, and the children love the tickets for ice cream the officers hand out as rewards for wearing bike helmets.

“Everybody is very friendly, and it’s pretty awesome. Kids are playing football – I’ll join in a little bit because it’s fun for me and them,” she said.

Olson said the camaraderie with the residents makes law enforcement enjoyable.

“It also makes it quite a bit easier for us to do our jobs once you get to know people,” she said. “When you get out there with the public and get to know them, you build that rapport with them and people are more likely to be open with you and receptive to you helping them, or speaking to them to get information.”

Not only do the officers have the respect of the community but they have the support of businesses that are willing to donate to help with the department’s extra costs. Among those costs have been updated bullet-proof vests that are designed to fit women.

When he started with the Surrey Police Department more than 44 years ago, Chief Howe said the department had just one part-time officer, and women in law enforcement were uncommon anywhere. Howe’s first stint as Surrey’s chief of police was from September 1979 to December 1983, after which he joined the Ward County Sheriff’s Department for six years and the U.S. Marshal’s Office for more than 24 years. A week after retiring, in March 2014, he returned to Surrey and stayed until January 2018. He remained on the roster part time until again becoming chief in August 2020.

Having witnessed more women enter the field over those years, he said female officers have shown themselves to be detail-oriented and they bring an element that more quickly de-escalates charged situations.

He said he currently welcomes both male or female applicants as he looks to fill another full-time and a part-time officer position. The department was most recently fully staffed last fall, which also is when it last had a male officer taking patrol.

“When I look through applications, all I care about is they meet the requirements and they can do the job,” Howe said. “I have a good crew right now.”