The Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) is the highway patrol 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 sove ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, which 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. J ...

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

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

s. Though authorized to enforce the eleven

traffic law Traffic codes are laws that generally include provisions relating to the establishment of authority and enforcement procedures, statement of the rules of the road, and other safety provisions. Administrative regulations for driver licensing, vehi ...

s 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 seven districts that the MHP operates in throughout the state. District I ( Missoula) – Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli, and Sanders counties District II ( Great Falls) – Cascade, Fergus, Judith Basin, Petroleum, Teton, Wheatland, Blaine, Chouteau, Glacier, Hill, Liberty, Phillips, Pondera, and Toole counties District III (

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

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

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metro ...

) – Big Horn, Carbon, Stillwater, Musselshell, Golden Valley, and Yellowstone counties District V (

Glendive Glendive is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Montana, United States, and home to Dawson Community College. Glendive was established by the Northern Pacific Railway when they built the transcontinental railroad across the northern ...

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

Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region ...

) – Flathead, Lake, and Lincoln counties District VII (

Bozeman Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of ...

) – Broadwater, Gallatin, Madison, Meagher, Sweet Grass, and Park counties

Mission

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 A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEA ...

, and help motorists in need. Each year, the men and women of the Patrol: *drive more than *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 Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

(DUI), and child safety.

Weapons

The Montana Highway Patrol uses a variety of lethal and

non-lethal weapon Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventiona ...

s, the weapons that are in use by the department are as follows: * S&W MP 2.0 4.25” 9mm *

Beretta 1301 The Beretta 1301 is a gas-operated semi-automatic shotgun produced by Beretta Italy and imported by Beretta USA in the United States. The firearm has two separate designs. One is intended for tactical, self-defense, and law enforcement applicat ...

Tactical * Rock River Arms M-4 Carbine style AR-15 MHP also have Military Surplus M-14 Rifles. * OC (Oleoresin capsicum) Spray * Taser X2

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Montana Highway Patrol in 1935, eight officers have died while on duty.Officer Down Memorial Page
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References

External links

Montana Highway Patrol website
{{authority control State law enforcement agencies of Montana Government agencies established in 1935 1935 establishments in Montana