Jim Geeting
About the Wyoming
Highway Patrol According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, "At
full staff, there are 207 uniformed officers and many other Wyoming Highway Patrol personnel who continually make a big highway
safety difference - day in and day out all across Wyoming.
In a typical 12-month period, uniformed
troopers will log over 5-million miles patrolling the 6,500 miles of the state highway system. They will write thousands of
citations for violations of traffic laws, investigate more than 6,000 motor vehicle crashes and, generally and continually,
make Wyoming highways as safe as they can be.
Troopers are directed where they're needed by dispatchers communicating via radio 24 hours a day,
seven days a week from the patrol's communications center in Cheyenne. And while there is this "Field Operations"
front line of highway safety support, there is much more to the highway patrol.
Officers of the patrol's Commercial Carrier Division inspect
commercial carriers, so they don't become oversize hazards to themselves and to drivers and occupants of smaller, normal-sized
vehicles. There are the patrol's ports of entry personnel that also inspect and weigh commercial vehicles so that illegally
overweight loads will not be able to inflict added damage to state roads. They collect fees from truckers that help repair
the wear and tear on our highways.
There are the officers of the patrol's Safety and Training
Program who oversee the training of new troopers at the Wyoming Highway Patrol Recruit Academy and ongoing training and certification
as well. They also take several patrol safety programs to schools and safety-minded service organizations across Wyoming."
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