Minnesota State Patrol welcomes 23 new troopers Tuesday

(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) held a graduation ceremony on Tuesday morning to welcome 23 new troopers following their successful completion of the State Patrol’s 67th Training Academy.

The graduates are made up of traditional and Law Enforcement Training Opportunity (LETO) program applicants. The LETO program offers the education and training to candidates who have a two-or-four-year degree but no law enforcement experience.

Cadets in the graduating class began training at Camp Ripley on Feb. 13. It included motor vehicle crash investigation, traffic law, emergency vehicle operations, scenario-based de-escalation, communication, and mental health crisis training and defensive tactics.

After graduation, cadets will attend additional training at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension before starting field training with another trooper. Following successful completion of field training, they will begin their solo patrols on August 30.

A list of the graduating cadets, their hometown and assigned district are below.

Cadet	Hometown	Assignment
Oscar Aragon-Aguilar	Minneapolis	Minneapolis
James Breeden	Nashwauk	Hibbing
Zachary Caldwell	Scandia	Mounds View
Hunter Dupey	Farmington	St. Paul
Corey Haddy	Coon Rapids	Minneapolis
Thomas Helgren	Madison, WI	Minneapolis
Dalton Hoffman	Le Center	Mounds View
Benjamin Huebner	Hutchinson	Red Wing
Nicholas Kirick	St. Joseph	Hibbing
Dylan Kriese	Alexandria	Morris
Nicholas Lucking	Roseville	Virginia
Michael Mays	St. Paul	Minneapolis
John Peterson	Browerville	Hibbing
Casey Roisland	Oklee	Hallock
Philip Schlee	Elkton	Marshall
Cody Schyma	Monticello	Minneapolis
Austin Smith	Norwood Young America	Bemidji
Ian Smith	Decorah, IA	Rochester
Issac Stephens	Sterling, KS	Mounds View
Timothy Vaagenes, Jr.	Circle Pines	Hinckley
Mark Vande Steeg	Boca Raton, FL	Minneapolis
Jack Williams	Hastings	Virginia
Alexander Wright	White Bear Lake	Mounds View

To watch a recording of the graduation ceremony, click HERE.