We'll miss you, Maj. Sokol
May 20, 2021
“His legacy is one troopers aspire to have. He worked hard, made a difference, and people looked up to him."
That's what Col. Matt Langer has to say about Maj. Matt Sokol's career with the Minnesota State Patrol – a career that will come to a close in June, when he retires. Langer counts himself among those troopers who look up to Sokol. He has ever since the fall of 1994, when Langer was an Explorer – a program for 14- to 20-year-olds considering a career in law enforcement – and Sokol was his advisor. “I've known him my whole career," says Langer. “He exemplifies the best of the best of the State Patrol."
The State Patrol wasn't Sokol's first foray into law enforcement. He started out with Hennepin County, but they had him working at the jail, which wasn't truly why he went into law enforcement. “I wanted something more related to what I was interested in, and the State Patrol was hiring at the time." Sokol knew he would have more freedom to do what he was hired to do. “There was more intensive training that came along with that freedom," he notes, “but it worked."
Sokol was also part of the military police in the Marine Corps Reserves for four years, and he found the State Patrol to have the same “esprit de corps, the camaraderie that goes along with it. There were a lot of similarities there," he says.
Sokol's 27-year State Patrol career has included work in many different areas. After four years as a trooper in the east metro, he became an investigator, then a lieutenant overseeing several different stations, then a co-commander on the Special Response Team, whose duties include search and rescue operations and protection of dignitaries. Next, Sokol transferred over to a commercial vehicle section to oversee inspectors, and was eventually promoted to major and transferred to State Patrol Headquarters in St. Paul. But with all those changes, one thing remained the same. As Langer puts it, “He's done a lot over his career and done it all exceptionally well."
Sokol has a lot to be proud of, but a couple cases stand out more than the others in his memory. One was a hit-and-run case where the suspect's car had five or six title transfers as Sokol was trying to track him down. When he finally found the suspect, he needed the victims' help identifying him. “I never thought I'd have that victim be able to pick the suspect out of the photo lineup, but I was amazed when the passenger, when I showed her the photos, immediately pointed to the suspect," Sokol recalls. “When I asked if she was sure, she said, 'It was only a split second that I saw him, but I will never forget his face.' It was nice to bring some closure to them from this traumatizing event."
Another proud memory came about from a random commercial vehicle inspection by commercial vehicle inspectors Sokol supervised. A criminal referred to as the Vampire Trucker was holding a relative captive in his semi. “If it wasn't for the diligence of the people working that day, who knows how much longer she would have suffered and what he may have done if they hadn't realized something was amiss and called local troopers to take him into custody? Eventually he was charged with sex trafficking across state lines. It all started with that commercial vehicle inspection. I truly believe they saved that 19-year-old victim's life."
That's the sort of thing that makes Sokol love working in the State Patrol. “Every time you're out there doing your job, you're making a difference," he says. “Sometimes you don't realize, but you may save someone's life by just doing your job; whether it's catching that speeder or that impaired driver, you never know what tragedy might have occurred if you hadn't. If you're just out there doing your job, you're making an impact."
The Minnesota State Patrol's core values are respect, integrity, courage, honor and excellence, and as far as Langer is concerned, the major embodies them all: “Our core values are exemplified 100 percent in Maj. Sokol."
But Sokol believes he's the lucky one: “I feel very fortunate to have ended up working for the Patrol. It's been an amazing career and I wouldn't change anything about it."
