The City of Grand Rapids hires their first female patrol sergeant, “Micki” Norris

The City of Grand Rapids recently hired their first female patrol sergeant: Michelle Norris. Known as “Micki” to many, Norris is a spirited, intentional, and smart woman who likes to stay busy. She continues to add projects and plans to her life that align with her purpose: helping people.

From a military family, Norris grew up in Greenway. She became a mom at 17 years old and now has three grown children. When deciding what career to pursue, Norris realized she wanted some familiarity with what she knew from her family. She decided to go into the law enforcement program at Hibbing Community College. She graduated from Hibbing in 2001 and worked for the Juvenile Prosecution Center in Itasca County when it first opened up. After that she got a job at the local jail as a jailor for three years.

On Monday, Aug. 12, Norris was sworn in at the City of Grand Rapids Council meeting with her mom pinning her uniform.

The Minnesota POST Board (Police Officers Standards and Training) reports 13% of the statewide 10,499 full time Peace Officers are female officers. That percentage is drastically decreased to a mere 8% when major metropolitan agencies are removed from the review. GRPD is extremely grateful of the skill, the dedication, and influence that Sergeant Micki adds to their team.

And while Norris loves helping others, she specifically is there for kids.

Norris was very active in her children’s activities and has coached baseball, basketball, softball, and assisted on the hockey board. When all of her children grew up and left the house, Norris thought about coaching again because she had the time. She decided to start coaching for Special Olympics.

“I got into that because my daughter, from about eighth grade on, started helping Special Olympics, she coached track, and I was around it with her and went to some events,” Norris said. When she saw that Special Olympics was looking for a basketball coach, she knew it would be a good fit. She also coaches softball when they get the numbers for it.

One thing that Norris seems to also be great at is helping organizations and others where it’s needed– always ready to fill in and lead, Norris has been a part of numerous organizations and projects that all aid in making the community a better place, inside and outside of her role.

Norris is currently on the security team for her church, New Song Alliance. She’s also part of the Cap Baker Lions Club, which is a nonprofit organization that helps donate money to organizations or projects to strengthen the community. This month is her first meeting being a part of the Advocates for Family Peace Board. Currently, Norris is the crisis and hostage negotiator and has been in that role for fifteen years. She is also a mental health instructor, has helped the Chaplain program get back on its feet, teaches DARE, teaches about scams to the elderly, is with social services on a child protection team, and is on the child sexual assault team. Years ago she was on the sexual assault board. In past roles she worked on the drug force team, was an investigator on and off, was a School Resource Officer, and a Field Training officer.

In addition to all of that, she is planning Brooms of Glory this year, a broomball tournament that will take place on the first Saturday of March.

Now, stepping into a role no other woman has performed, Norris is excited to hopefully help pave the way for other women to understand that they can work in this space, Norris wants to see more females in the industry. She said, “I’m not going to say that it’s not tough, because it is. But maybe we can get more females and show that we can do this.”

Norris mentioned she has a great bond with the females she works with. She acknowledged Lynn Mihalick, a retired trooper, and said that they became instant buddies with their synonymous experiences working in Northern Minnesota.

She gave a nod to her employer, the Grand Rapids Police Department. Norris thanked Chief of Police Andy Morgan, Captain Kevin Ott, and Captain Jeremy Nelson for being very supportive. She said, “I finally feel like my voice is being heard more than its ever been.” Norris also mentioned her first Sergeant, Frank Scherf, who she learned a lot from. She said, “He was great to me and taught me a lot.”

She considers her coworkers a “great group of guys” that she considers family. She also wanted to acknowledge the department in that they recognize that family is and should be most important for their employees.

Chief of Police Andy Morgan said, “Micki has thrived in seeking justice for victims; from years of investigating criminal sexual conduct cases involving our youth, to coordinating Senior Safety presentations, her heart is dedicated to providing a police service to those community member victims who are often the most vulnerable.”