Montana Highway Patrol

Montana Highway Patrol
Montana Highway Patrol
	Patch of Montana Highway Patrol
Abbreviation	MHP
Agency overview
Formed	1935; 86 years ago
Employees	294 (as of 2014)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Montana, USA
	Montana Highway Patrol Districts
Size	147,165 square miles (381,160 km2)
Population	998,199 (July 2011 estimate)
General nature	Civilian police;
Operational structure
Headquarters	Helena, Montana
Troopers	237 (as of 2014)
Civilians	57 (as of 2014)
Agency executive	Colonel Steve Lavin, Chief Administrator;
Parent agency	Montana Department of Justice
Facilities
Stations	8 District and 1 Head Quarters
Website
	Montana Highway Patrol site

The Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) is the highway patrol agency for the U.S. state of Montana, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state over Montana Traffic law.

History[]

The Montana Highway Patrol was founded in 1935 after Montana led the nation with a 74% increase in highway fatalities. Twenty-four recruits taken from an application pool of over 1500 were selected to attend the first Highway Patrol Recruit Academy, and on May 1, 1935 those recruits took to the highways. Though authorized to enforce the eleven traffic laws in existence at that time, the Montana Highway Patrol's main focus was to educate and assist the public.

In 1988, they became the first state highway patrol in the nation to become nationally accredited. The accreditation process took three years to complete and was considered a critical element in enhancing the professionalism of the Montana Highway Patrol.

The Montana Highway Patrol currently have four specialty units that Troopers can be assigned to. They are:

• Executive Protection (EP)

• Special Response Team (SRT)

• Criminal Interdiction Team (CIT)

• Safety Enforcement Traffic Team (SETT)

The Montana Highway Patrol also operates an aviation divisions, which includes helicopter pilots and drone pilots.

In recent years there has been a movement by the citizens of Montana to restructure the Montana Highway Patrol into a State Police Agency; however, there has not been any formal conversations regarding this change.

Organization[]

The Montana Highway Patrol is divided into eight districts.

MCA 61-1-101 (28) "Highway patrol officer" means a state officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations.

Districts[]

There are eight districts that the MHP operates in throughout the state.

District I (Missoula) – Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli, and Sanders counties

District II (Great Falls) – Cascade, Fergus, Golden Valley, Judith Basin, Musselshell, Petroleum, Teton, and Wheatland counties

District III (Butte) – Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Granite, Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, Madison, Powell, and Silver Bow counties

District IV (Billings) – Big Horn, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, and Yellowstone counties

District V (Glendive) – Carter, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, McCone, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Treasure, Valley, and Wibaux counties

District VI (Kalispell) – Flathead, Lake, and Lincoln counties

District VII (Bozeman) – Broadwater, Gallatin, Madison, Meagher, and Park counties

District VIII (Havre) – Blaine, Chouteau, Glacier, Hill, Liberty, Phillips, Pondera, and Toole counties

Mission[]

A Ford Taurus Police Interceptor of the MHP on scene of a rollover accident

The Highway Patrol's mission is to safeguard the lives and property of the people using the highway traffic system of Montana through education, service, enforcement, and interagency cooperation.

The Patrol's 243 patrol officers cover great distances to police Montana's highways, assist other law enforcement agencies, and help motorists in need. Each year, the men and women of the Patrol:

drive more than 5,500,000 miles (8,900,000 km)
respond to over 70,000 calls for service
issue more than 85,000 arrest tickets and more than 100,000 warning tickets

Patrol Officers provide public safety education presentations on nearly every subject related to driving safety, including seatbelt use, driving under the influence (DUI), and child safety.

Weapons[]

The Montana Highway Patrol uses a variety of lethal and non-lethal weapons, the weapons that are in use by the department are as follows:

.357 SIG Sauer P229R
Beretta 1301 Tactical
Colt AR-15 and Rock River Arms M-4 Carbine style AR-15 MHP also have Military Surplus M-14 Rifles.
OC (Oleoresin capsicum) Spray* Taser X2^[3]

Fallen officers[]

Since the establishment of the Montana Highway Patrol in 1935, eight officers have died while on duty.^[4]

Rank	Name	Date of Death	Cause of Death	Age	Location
Patrolman	Robert G. Steele	11-02-1946	Shot and killed while on a traffic stop with a car that was used in a robbery	30	On Highway 10; exact location N/A
Patrolman	James H. Anderson	07-24-1954	Killed after being struck by a vehicle while on a traffic stop	47	Near Livingston, Montana
Patrolman	Richard E. Hedstrom	07-19-1973	Killed after being struck by a drunk driver while on a traffic stop	24	In Columbia Falls, Montana
Patrolman	Michael M. Ren	04-08-1978	Shot and killed after a high-speed pursuit ended in a wreck	30	In Eureka, Montana
Trooper	David A. Graham	10-09-2007	Killed after being struck head-on by a pickup truck in the wrong lanes	36	On Highway 2 in Kalispell, Montana
Trooper	Evan Frederick Schneider	08-26-2008	Killed making a U-turn to apprehend a speeder, 2 others killed.	29	On Highway 2 near Columbia Falls, Montana
Trooper	Michael “Mike” Warren Haynes	03-27-2009	Succumbed to injuries sustained on 03-22-2009 after being struck head-on by a drunk driver going the wrong way	28	On U.S. 93 near Kalispell, Montana
Trooper	David James DeLaittre	12-01-2010	Shot and killed while checking on an idle truck in the middle of the road	23	In Three Forks, Montana

References[]

^ USDOJ Statistics Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
^ USDOJ Statistics Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
^ http://investor.taser.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=129937&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1579859&highlight=^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Officer Down Memorial Page

External links[]

Montana Highway Patrol website

[1] USDOJ Statistics Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine

[2] USDOJ Statistics Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine

[3] ttp://investor.taser.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=129937&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1579859&highlight=^{[permanent dead link]}

[4] Officer Down Memorial Page

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[3]

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show v t Highway patrol/state police in the United States
See also: Law enforcement in the United States and Highway patrol
States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Highway Police State Police California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii (does not have a statewide police agency) Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Federal district	District of Columbia
Insular areas	American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

show v t State agencies of Montana
Boards and Commissions	Public Service Commission
Departments	Department of Corrections Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department of Justice Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Department of Transportation Office of Public Instruction Office of the Secretary of State
Law Enforcement	Montana Highway Patrol
Other	Montana Historical Society Montana Lottery Montana School for the Deaf and Blind Montana State Library