Minnesota State Patrol

History

The Minnesota Highway Patrol was created in 1929 when Charles M. Babcock, the Commissioner of Highways, appointed Earle Brown, Sheriff of Hennepin County, as Chief of the Highway Patrol. On July 1, 1929, Chief Brown appointed 8 officers. In 1973, the Highway Patrol was reorganized and the official name was changed to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The first training school was held January 18 to April 1, 1930. This school graduated the first 35 members of the Minnesota Highway Patrol.

The mission of the Minnesota State Patrol is "to protect and serve all people in the state through assistance, education, and enforcement; provide support to allied agencies; and provide for the safe, efficient movement of traffic on Minnesota's roadways." The Minnesota State Patrol strives to achieve their mission while following their "core values" of respect, integrity, courage, honor, and excellence. These core values are taught to new cadets on the first day of the academy and are stressed throughout employment.

The patch

The previous version of the modern patch worn by members of the Minnesota State Patrol evolved from "The Great Seal" which was placed on all official state documents. In August 2024, the State Patrol announced an updated logo design for their patches and badges. This was due to the State of Minnesota replacing their state seal and state flag in May of 2024. Instead of using the new state seal featuring the Common Loon (the state bird), the State Patrol designed their own center seal and kept the rest of their previously used designs largely the same.

The new State Patrol seal consists of the Mississippi River, seven Norway Pines (the state tree) to represent troopers working seven days a week, a four-point North Star (also on the new state seal), and a banner which reads "Since 1929" across the top acknowledging the birth year of the agency. The State Patrol began updating logos and license plates on squad cars first, and then troopers began wearing the new patches and badges in April 2025. The State Patrol's chief, Colonel Christina Bogojevic, estimated there were 188,000 agency items that needed to be switched over to the new logo. The cost of this changeover was estimated to be approximately $4,000,000.

Notable incidents

In late May 2020, the Minnesota State Patrol was involved in policing the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. The State Patrol slashed tires of at least several dozen unoccupied vehicles parked near protests, admitting their involvement around a week later. Several journalists' cars, including from the Star Tribune, had their tires slashed. The Patrol said that the tactic was not a usual one, but they implemented it to prevent vehicles from being used as weapons.

Duties

While the State Patrol concentrates primarily on traffic enforcement, impaired driving investigations, crash response, and other highway safety duties, it also has a statewide law enforcement role. Troopers will often respond to requests for assistance from local city and county law enforcement agencies during higher risk situations or when those agencies do not have adequate staffing to respond to a particular situation. Troopers are also involved with crash reconstruction, vehicle crimes investigations, and commercial vehicle enforcement. The State Patrol capitol security division also handles the security for the Minnesota State Capitol complex and the Governor. This includes a combination of state troopers and non-sworn capitol security officers.

Additionally, the State Patrol maintains a K-9 unit that focuses on drug enforcement interdiction, a mobile response team (MRT) used for crowd control situations or extra security for public events, as well as a Special Response Team (SRT), that operates like a traditional SWAT Team. Troopers are issued the Glock 17 Gen 5 9mm sidearm equipped with a Streamlight TLR-7 weapon mounted light.

The Minnesota State Patrol also prides itself on the capabilities of its flight section, which employs 13 state trooper pilots and seven aircraft. They are based out of airports in two different cities, St. Paul and Brainerd. MSP utilizes aircraft (airplanes and helicopters) to assist with various missions. These missions include conducting search and rescue operations, mitigating vehicle pursuits, locating missing people or criminal suspects on foot, participating in traffic enforcement, monitoring public events for safety issues, and conducting emergency blood runs to hospitals. The Minnesota Air Rescue Team (MART) is a combination of State Patrol trooper pilots and St. Paul Fire Department firefighters that respond across Minnesota to conduct helicopter rescues in areas that are difficult to reach by other means. Similarly, MSP's Special Response Team (SRT) has members trained to conduct tactical operations using the helicopters.

In June 2025 a new aircraft was introduced to the fleet, a Bell 429 helicopter. This helicopter includes twin engines to allow more flexibility if one goes down, advanced auto-pilot to decrease pilot workload, a side-mounted hoist system to conduct quicker rescues, radios to connect pilots to personnel on the ground, infrared cameras for thermal imaging and video streaming, and a spotlight to illuminate the surrounding area at night. MSP also operates two older Bell 407 helicopters along with two Cirrus S22 fixed-wing airplanes and two Cessna 182 fixed-wing airplanes. These airplanes are equipped with cameras and other equipment to aid in various State Patrol aviation missions. Trooper pilots also utilize night-vision goggles to enhance eye-sight capabilities in the dark and are required to maintain both a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial license and a second class airman's medical certification. The Minnesota State Patrol is the only law enforcement agency in Minnesota or its surrounding states (Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) that owns and staffs helicopter resources on a full-time basis. The surrounding states only used contracted helicopters on occasion or operate their own fixed-wing airplanes.

Organization

The State Patrol is currently headquartered in St. Paul. There are 11 Patrol Districts throughout the state, divided into 61 Patrol Stations. The current Chief of the State Patrol is Colonel Christina Bogojevic and the current Assistant Chief of the State Patrol is Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Geiger. Each district office is led by a captain and is staffed with lieutenants, investigators, and troopers, along with communication and support staff to assist in the patrol's missions. The Headquarters and State Patrol Command Staff are within District 2000, along with the Flight Section, Investigative Services Section, and Training & Development.

On June 30th, 2025, the Minnesota State Patrol bought property in the 1500 block of Highway 36 in Roseville for $13,400,000. There are currently two buildings on this land (one previously used by the Minnesota Department of Education and one previously used by National American University). Both buildings have been unused for several years. MSP plans to demolish these buildings in 2026 and begin construction on a new metropolitan headquarters. This will be the first building in history actually owned by MSP, as the Patrol has (up until now) only leased space from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (DOT) and other entities for their troopers to use. This new headquarters will consolidate six metropolitan locations into one, including: central headquarters currently in Saint Paul, the east metro district office currently in Oakdale, the west metro district office currently in Golden Valley, the commercial vehicle district office currently in Mendota Heights, the investigative services section currently in Golden Valley, and the training and development section currently in Shoreview. This new headquarters will be home to about 300 MSP personnel and will host troopers from across the state to do training and receive other support. The anticipated completion of this project is May of 2028.

Patrol Districts

State Patrol Chief

Since 1929, the State Patrol has been commanded by the State Patrol Chief, who has the rank of Colonel. The Colonel reports directly to the Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety, who is appointed by the governor and serves in the Governor's Cabinet. In 1997, Anne L. Beers was appointed Chief of the State Patrol, as the first woman to hold the rank of Commander of a State Police Agency in U.S. The following is a list of those that have held the title of State Patrol Chief:

Rank structure

Fallen troopers

Since the establishment of the Minnesota State Patrol, eight troopers have died while on duty. These troopers' badge numbers were subsequently retired after their passing and have never been re-issued to new academy graduates as a sign of respect for their service and sacrifice.

References

References

1. "About - About".
2. "Minnesota Population 2021 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)".
3. https://mnitservices.my.site.com/POSTLicenseSearch/s/
4. "About - About".
5. "About". Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
6. "About - History Timeline".
7. [http://www.mspta.com/History.htm The Minnesota State Patrol Trooper's Association site]
8. "Mission, vision and core values {{!}} Minnesota Department of Public Safety".
9. Cummings, Caroline. (12 August 2024). "Minnesota State Patrol Debuts New Logo, Replaces Symbol With Old State Seal". [[CBS News]].
10. (June 8, 2020). "Did Police Slash Tires at Minneapolis Protests?". [[Snopes]].
11. (June 8, 2020). "Officers slashed tires on vehicles parked amid Minneapolis protests, unrest". [[The Star Tribune]].
12. "MSP Home - Pages - Minnesota State Patrol - Home".
13. "Flight Section dashboard {{!}} Minnesota Department of Public Safety".
14. "New State Patrol helicopter lifts public safety to new heights {{!}} Minnesota Department of Public Safety".
15. "Aircraft and pilot information dashboard {{!}} Minnesota Department of Public Safety".
16. "About - Chiefs of the State Patrol".
17. "Contact - District Map and Contacts".
18. Krueger, Naomi. "MN State Patrol headquarters coming to Roseville".
19. "About - History Timeline".
20. [http://www.odmp.org/agency/2520-minnesota-state-patrol-minnesota The Officer Down Memorial Page]
21. Christenson, Jerome. (2024-02-26). "After 15 years, trooper's death is a reminder".