Dec. 10—GRAND FORKS — In the early 1910s, while the first policewomen were being appointed throughout the nation, the Grand Forks Police Department was quick to see their value, hiring a woman to serve as something of a cross between police officer and community liaison or social worker — particularly for young women and children in the city.
“I think, from other notations (I’ve read), they saw how policewomen worked in other cities, and so they hired one here to help with the juvenile issues,” Cpl. Brian Samson told the Grand Forks Herald. “I would imagine, back then, they’re probably more comfortable dealing with a female officer.”
Maybe female officers were also more approachable, or more informed on the standards for women, and they could therefore guide other women to act how they “should,” he said.
The earliest policewoman on record at the GFPD was a Mrs. M. Marshall in 1911, though Pearl F. Blough, appointed the following year, is more widely known as the city’s first female police officer — and one of the first in the United States.
Blough was previously employed under a police matron in Minneapolis and, before that, she’d graduated from a university and worked as a court stenographer in Indiana.
Mayor Michael Murphy was quoted in The Evening Times saying that an external candidate was sought because the city wanted someone familiar with the job.
“Such a department needs an experienced person at the head of it, or it will be a failure,” he said. “Pearl Blough has taken special work in that line, and has a great deal of experience.”
Blough was quoted in an Evening Times article published Oct. 1, 1912, saying, “There is a big field in Grand Forks for the work of a police matron.”
“It is impossible to say, however, just what the nature of my work will be, until after I have gone over the field thoroughly. I begin this afternoon, and expect to have definite plans formulated very soon.”
A 1934 letter written to the Grand Forks Council of Social Agencies, which the GFPD has preserved, says the city ordinance that addresses the functions of policewomen was written in 1910.
The responsibilities included taking charge of and investigating all cases of minor girls accused of violating the city’s ordinances; investigating all information surrounding the accused and reporting findings, conclusions and recommendations to the magistrate; and caring for and watching over all “delinquent, wayward, and homeless young women and girls” in Grand Forks.
The role is in some ways similar to today’s mental health and homelessness liaisons, Lt. Andrew Stein said.
A Grand Forks Daily Herald article from April 5, 1916, gives a glimpse into how Blough’s role evolved as she became established in the agency and community.
The article’s headline says she had been “very active” over the last year, and a subheading said the work of keeping young people out of trouble had proven to be a “big task.”
From March 1915 to March 1916, Blough handled 302 cases, 412 calls for investigation and 558 office interviews.
One case involved a 15-year-old girl whose landlady wanted to kick her out for having more company over than she was allowed. The girl was making approximately $4 per week doing laundry and, because her family did not live in the area, she had to room wherever she could afford to.
Blough assisted by contacting the girl’s mother, and finding a place for her to stay in the meantime.
“After a great deal of controversy the girl was allowed to go home with her mother on condition that she report to Mr. O’Keefe, the juvenile commissioner, at regular intervals,” Blough said.
She cited other cases of young women who had “come to grief” in Grand Forks, with ignorance being the main cause, particularly for girls who came to the city to attend school and lived alone among strangers.
Overall, the newspaper reported, it was clear that a great deal was being done to protect the moral welfare of young people in the city.
Mary Berg was the next policewoman appointed after Blough, and she was with the agency from 1917 to 1934, according to GFPD archives.
Also in the archives are records of what Berg did each day.
“She would fill out a business card, (saying) who she met with and how long she met with them,” Samson said.
One such card, filled out April 14, 1932, explained that the morning was spent at a “liquor raid” with four other police officers, then Berg went to lunch, and back to police headquarters before attending two juvenile court hearings in the afternoon.
Berg’s shifts regularly included court hearings for juveniles or those considered mentally unwell, house calls for various issues and patrol work.
She also chaperoned local dances, which were often held for area single adults.
“She had a lot of notes to the chief about the dances she would go to,” Samson said. “Some of them would talk about, ‘Nothing happened at the dance last night, everybody was cordial and respectful.’ Another one talked about a young man who was here from out of town for the dance, and he had to be kicked out, and they wanted to keep an eye on him. That kind of stuff. It’s interesting how she’d write about indecencies.”
Some of the standards Berg may have enforced, based on her notations, were social norms like how to dance, what physical contact between dancing partners was appropriate, how to communicate with women respectfully and what level of intoxication was excessive.
Berg regularly worked long hours, returning home past midnight only to come back at 8:30 a.m.
“She was almost on call, for anything, 24/7,” Stein said.
Because there was only one policewoman at a time, they were overextended, according to the 1934 letter to the Council of Social Agencies.
“In Grand Forks we have but one policewoman for the entire city and for the twenty-four hour day,” the letter said. “Even with close attention to duty and long hours one person cannot do the work with the same thoroughness and attention to detail which would be possible with a larger staff.”
As a result, investigations often took over the policewoman’s focus, because they required so much attention and there were so many of them.
Some cases a policewoman handled included helping a deaf, mute woman — who relocated to the area but was struggling to stay afloat — return to her home state; and reconnecting a homeless woman who had mental health issues with her family.
“Among juvenile cases there have been a number which have been typical of the unadjusted boy or girl and some which have involved very disturbing ‘criminal tendencies,’ ” the letter said.
The policewoman was often the responding party for reports of petty thievery among children and, often, one warning was enough to dissuade the children from re-offending. There were a few cases, though, of children “who seem to be well on the way to a life of crime,” according to the letter.
One boy, at 12 years old, was known to steal in broad daylight, and his actions couldn’t be explained by a troubled home life or poverty, like many others could.
“The case has not yet been concluded but some progress has been made, we hope, in putting this boy on a safer path,” the letter said.
Truant and runaway children were also common, and many examples of the latter were explained simply by a desire to see the world — a trait common among boys and girls, according to the letter.
“It is not enough to catch the delinquent and mete some punishment,” the letter said. “In fact, it is much more important to make some effort to direct the young girl or boy so that in the future they may not make similar mistakes and gradually build criminal lives.”