Bismarck Police Chief Deborah Ness says she will retire from her 33-year career in law enforcement after a new chief is hired.

"I am retiring, and I will stay here until such time as the city commission finds my replacement," she said Thursday morning.

Ness, the first female police chief in any of North Dakota's major cities, took over the department on Feb. 1, 1997. She came to Bismarck from the Minot Police Department, where she began as an intern on June 1, 1974. She was a captain in the detective division in Minot before taking the job as Bismarck's chief.

Ness said she has never worked outside of law enforcement, aside from a stint at a nursing home in high school. She and her husband, Ken, are starting a quilting shop at 515 N. Fourth Street, which she expects to open in August.

"I'm just going from the cop world to the shop world," she said.

Ness, 53, did not plan to move into her new career until she was 55 years old, but things moved faster on her new business than she thought they would. Since both ventures are time consuming, she decided to move on from law enforcement rather than give it less than her all.

"This job requires someone who can give 150 percent," she said.

Ness said she never experienced a negative reaction due to being a woman from members of her department, though a woman from the community, hands on her hips, once took the slender, petite police chief by surprise by telling her, "You're not big enough for this job."

The Bismarck City Commission voted to hire Ness as police chief on Nov. 26, 1996. She accepted the job Dec. 5, 1996, after salary negotiations. A man had been offered the job but decided not to take it. Ness was offered less money than the man would have made, but made her case to get nearly what the first candidate had been offered as a salary.

Even had the money situation not worked out, Ness said she still would have taken the job.

"You have to really fight for what you want," she said. "I'm glad they took a chance on me."

Ness' tenure as police chief included a 1999 diagnosis of breast cancer. She returned to work just eight days after having surgery and continued working through her treatment.

Ness said health issues were not a major factor in deciding to move on from law enforcement. However, she acknowledged the job can be stressful and said she didn't want to be the kind of officer who retires from law enforcement and dies shortly afterward.

"You need to grab on and take those opportunities when you have them," she said.

Ness said she has had many high points during her time as police chief, but the low points of her career in law enforcement have been related to people making bad choices in life.

"It really saddens me to see some of the situations we see," she said, pointing out situations where young people have committed brutal crimes. "And you know darn well they're going to spend the rest of their lives in prison or in jail."

Ness thinks the new chief will be walking into a good situation, despite Bismarck's growing population and an accompanying growing crime rate. The city is still one of the nation's safest per capita, and many of the department's plans for the future, such as a training complex and animal impound, should be ready to go by the time someone new steps in, she said.

"There's all kinds of things that are happening that should be well on their way if not completed before I leave," she said.

Keeping up with the employees of the department may be a challenge for the new chief, she said.

"I'm sometimes just amazed at the things they're able to accomplish," she said. "They have so many great ideas."

Ness said she has told the commission that there are several qualified candidates in the department ready to fill her shoes.

Mayor John Warford said the city's human resources department will form a search committee and advertise the position based on the city's specifications for the new chief. Eventually, a slate of candidates will be brought in, and the city commission likely will make the final choice, he said.

Ness has not given the commission a strict timeline to find a replacement, he said.

Warford said Ness and her department have helped keep Bismarck safe, which is one of the area's attractive features.

"We want to thank the chief for her exemplary service," he said.

The mayor said Ness displays strong authority but has a gentle nature.

"She kind of overwhelms you with her kindness," he said.

Ness said she has no regrets about her career as Bismarck police chief.

"This has been one of the highlights of my life," she said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)