March 30
Imagine you’re a college student. Let’s say you come back to school in the fall and your friends and professors ask you what you did this summer. Imagine being able to say, “Oh, no big deal…I just drove a State Patrol squad car and learned how to reconstruct a traffic crash.” Next week, 40 Minnesota college students will find out that they’ll be able to make that exact claim this fall...
March 27
They’re right up there with snowflakes for uniqueness, only they don’t melt and you have them your whole life: fingerprints. And if you’ve watched even one crime movie or cop show, you know how important fingerprints are in crime scene investigation. In fact, they’re one of the most common types of evidence investigators search for. Although every fingerprint is different, they’re all variations on three broad categories: the arch, the loop, and the whorl...
March 23
Pretty much everyone gets excited about the arrival of spring, especially here in Minnesota. But there’s one group of people who start looking forward to it as soon as the first snowflake falls: motorcyclists. From the moment you put that machine away in the fall, you anticipate getting it back on the road again a few months later. This spring is no exception, and it’s a good time to remember how important safety is. March 5 brought us the first fatal motorcycle crash of the year...
March 20
You probably give as much thought to firefighter training as you do to the color of your shoelaces. And that’s fine. But if your home is ever on fire, you’ll want to be sure that the people coming to put it out are as well-trained as they can possibly be, right? The Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) feels the same way, and they’re doing something about it...
March 16
“I love doing lots of paperwork,” said no one ever. And Minnesota law enforcement officers are no exception. Sure, they do it when it needs to be done, but when the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released its eCharging software for DWIs in 2010, let’s just say it was a happy day in law enforcement agencies all over the state. And what’s in it for you and me? The software helps them help us stay safer on Minnesota roads...
March 13
Imagine it: You’re sleeping peacefully in your bed, all warm and cozy, when a piercing sound fills the air. Your children run into the room in a panic, just as you realize it’s the smoke alarm. You have moments to get them and yourself to safety. Eventually you’re told you’ll have to find someplace else to live, and that this was a case of arson. Imagine how betrayed you’d feel at the thought of another person being cruel enough to want to destroy not only your building, but those inside it...
March 9
You see troopers on the roads, with their distinctive maroon and white squad cars, their tan uniforms, and their smart maroon hats. You probably wonder what a trooper's job is really like. In December, our social media coordinator arranged a ride-along and used the State Patrol’s Twitter feed to provide an inside look. Read about what she saw and prepare for the next round...
March 6
If you’re wondering how big a problem illicit drug use is here in Minnesota, you need only ask how many state agencies are working to solve it and how they feel about the problem. Spoiler alert: The answers are “a lot” and “alarmed.” Various agencies around the state compile drug statistics throughout the year. They shared the results with the public in a news conference, and they’re not pretty...
March 2
If you think back to your late teens and early 20s – whether you were in college, working your first job or both – you probably remember needing to blow off some steam every once in a while. What better way to do so than to go out on the town with your friends? Well, not much has changed since then. Young adults still want to hang out with their buddies, but unfortunately, too many do so by acquiring a fake ID and drinking before they’re of age. And that has led to some pretty poor choices...
