The Minnesota State Patrol is the statewide police force in the state of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. The State Patrol concentrates primarily on traffic enforcement and highway safety. Troopers are also involved with accident reconstruction and commercial vehicle enforcement. The State Patrol capitol security division also handles the security for the Minnesota State Capitol

Minnesota State Capitol

The Minnesota State Capitol is located in Minnesota's capital city, Saint Paul, and houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Governor...

 grounds and the governor. Additionally, the State Patrol maintains a K-9 unit that focuses on drug enforcement interdiction, as well as a Special Response Team (SRT), that operates like a traditional SWAT Team

SWAT

A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...

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The Minnesota Highway Patrol was created in 1929 when Charles M.