Very few police officers get named their agency’s Officer of the Month while still on probation. Even fewer get named their agency’s Officer of the Month during their first month on duty. But Officer Allison Fry of the Frederick (Maryland) Police Department earned that honor when she was just out of the academy.

It was September 2023 and Fry and her training officer G. Smith responded to what they thought would be a theft report call. Arriving on scene they discovered it was a felony theft and the suspects had gotten away. Another Frederick cop, Officer Lyons, stopped the getaway car and Fry and her training officer were able to identify the suspects. That arrest helped solve multiple theft cases in other Maryland jurisdictions.

A year later Fry is working patrol for the Frederick Police, and she says she enjoys the assignment. She’s especially driven to make drug arrests. “Too many times I have responded to fatal overdoses that could have been prevented,” she says. “Stopping the drugs before they get in the wrong hands and safeguarding the community from illegal drugs is one of my biggest passions and I’m excited to continue working and learning in this field.”

As excited as Fry is about her career, she’s finding that police work does require officers to make sacrifices in their personal lives. “I’ve had to get used to not seeing my family and friends as much as I used to. But I’ve begun to form a work family. Police officers often spend more time with their work families than their actual families,” she says.

Fry knew a law enforcement career was going to be challenging she also says it has been rewarding. “I knew I wanted to be a police officer here in Frederick at a very young age. And I wouldn’t want any other job.”