The Wyoming Highway Patrol is the

highway patrol A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...

and de facto

state police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

agency for the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, and has

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

across the entire state. The goals of the Wyoming Highway Patrol are to make Wyoming's highways safer by reducing the number of traffic crashes, deaths, and injuries; to apprehend and arrest criminals using Wyoming's highways; and to assist motorists in trouble. It is also tasked with providing security and transportation to the

Governor of Wyoming A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

History

The Wyoming Highway Patrol was created in 1933 to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of all people in Wyoming. It was created after the Wyoming Department of Law Enforcement, whose sole duty was to enforce prohibition laws, disbanded. On May 23, 1933, the Highway Commission named Captain George Smith as the leader of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Captain Smith, along with six other newly trained Patrolmen, left the state capital charged with the duty to “enforce the laws of the state relating to the registration and licensing of motor vehicles, the laws relating to use and operation of motor vehicles on highways, and all laws for the protection of the highways.” As of June 2021, the Wyoming Highway Patrol has 208 troopers on patrol. In 2019, troopers investigated nearly 8,000 motor vehicle crashes across the state and removed over 1,300 intoxicated drivers from Wyoming roadways. The current new sidearm for 2021 is the Sig Sauer P320 9MM 3.9 Inch Barrel XCarry Pro Series replacing the

Glock Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...

Model 35 Gen 4 .40, which replaced the

Smith & Wesson M&P The Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) is a polymer- framed, short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol introduced in the summer of 2005 by the American company Smith & Wesson. It uses a Browning-type locking system. Whil ...

.40.

Rank structure

A Wyoming Highway Patrol car in Gillette, Wyoming

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, two officers have died while on duty: Patrolman Peter Visser (End of Watch October 12, 1981): Patrolman Peter Visser died as a result of the injuries sustained when his cruiser was rear-ended by a drunk driver. Patrolman Chris S. Logsdon (End of Watch October 13, 1998): Patrolman Chris Logsdon was killed in a vehicle accident after being run off the road by another driver, a 92-year-old man who was confused and driving erratically.

References

External links

Wyoming Highway Patrol website
State law enforcement agencies of Wyoming Government agencies established in 1933 1933 establishments in Wyoming {{US-law-enforcement-agency-stub

History

Rank structure

Fallen officers

See also

References

External links