Missouri State Highway Patrol offers diverse range of services

Emily Younker, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·3 min read

Jul. 29—The Missouri State Highway Patrol boasts a long history of ensuring public safety and security in the state.

The patrol was organized in 1931 to enforce traffic laws and promote safety on the state's highways. It has since expanded to include a diverse number of divisions that oversee criminal investigations, provide security detail for public officials, patrol state waterways and enforce gambling regulations.

"The patrol draws upon decades of experience and a rich tradition of integrity, professionalism and unwavering adherence to values to provide a full range of service and protection to all people in Missouri," said Col. Eric T. Olson, the patrol's superintendent, in a statement included with the patrol's current strategic plan. "... We will always provide the highest level of service possible with the utmost in professionalism; we will forever safeguard the freedoms that we all enjoy; and we will strive to make Missouri a safer place to live and visit."

Services of the highway patrol, according to its website, include:

—Enforcement of road safety rules.

—An aircraft fleet consisting of three helicopters, five single-engine Cessnas and one twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 250. The aircraft assist with searches for wanted and missing persons, assess damage from natural disasters, and help with speed limit enforcement and vehicular pursuits, and more.

—The water patrol, which enforces safety on the state's waterways.

—Nine teams of K-9s that help with tracking, drug detection, building and area searches, evidence searches, and officer protection.

—Five major crash investigation units that investigate and provide detailed reporting of serious crashes involving fatalities or commercial motor vehicles and crashes resulting in felony criminal charges. The crash teams also assist other law enforcement agencies with serious traffic crash investigations and critical crime scene mapping.

—A crime laboratory that works in drug chemistry, toxicology, prints, firearms and DNA databasing. The crime laboratory has worked a number of high-profile criminal cases and disasters, such as determining the firearms components left behind by Bonnie and Clyde and identifying victims of the 2011 tornado in Joplin. Approximately 80% of cases received by the crime laboratory are submitted by external agencies such as municipal police departments, county sheriff's departments and county coroners.

—Teams that police the gambling industry in Missouri.

—The Law Enforcement Academy, which provides certified basic and career enhancement courses to any law enforcement officer in the state.

—Education programs such as rollover simulators, seat belt displays and more.

—A repository of statewide motor vehicle accident reports, convictions of alcohol- and drug-related traffic offenses, dispositions on traffic arrests and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

—Transportation, security and protection of the governor and his or her immediate family.

Olson, the superintendent, was appointed to the position by Gov. Mike Parson in 2019. He joined the patrol in 1990 and served in several different zones across the state before becoming director of the Division of Drug & Crime Control in 2015. He joined the patrol's command staff in 2017.

Southwest Missouri is covered by the patrol's Troop D, the largest troop in the state by geographical area. Organized in 1931, its headquarters were first located in Joplin but moved to Springfield in 1933. Today, Troop D is based on Kearney Street in Springfield, with a service center on Grand Avenue in Carthage. Troop D's command officer is Capt. D. Scott Sater.

The patrol can be reached in case of an emergency by calling 55 from a cellphone or 800-525-5555.