State Patrol

[ctadam12]

Does the WSP patrol Racine and Kenosha counties? I get confused as to what they patrol and where. Can someone explain how they operate...please?!? I'm from California where it is CHP for all freeways and unincorporated roads...PERIOD.

 

[MADScan]

The WSP has jurisdiction on every road in the state but a lot of the time local depts. help out too

 

[OpSec]

Does the WSP patrol Racine and Kenosha counties? I get confused as to what they patrol and where. Can someone explain how they operate...please?!? I'm from California where it is CHP for all freeways and unincorporated roads...PERIOD.

Things are a little different here.

WSP is tasked as the primary enforcement agency on the federal interstates and state highways, except the interstate system in Milwaukee County. WSP has statewide jurisdiction, but if it's not a traffic crime we don't investigate it. In the metro areas, our resources are utilized on the interstates/highways most of the time but in the northern part of the state, WSP works side by side with other agencies for all calls much more.

Even though CHP and WSP are both primarily traffic enforcement agencies, WSP doesn't get tasked with providing services like CHP does. Do WSP units respond to things like domestics, fights etc? Yes. Do we investigate them? No. They get turned over to the locals once the scene is secure. CHP has much broader investigative authority (including vehicle thefts etc) than WSP does and is subsequently staffed better to support their missions.

(Insert politics and staffing concerns here...I'm not going to ramble.)

In the last two years, WSP has taken on new life. We've graduated 3 recruit classes with almost 100 new troopers or CMV inspectors, gotten modern mobile data and CAD systems installed, supported enhanced criminal interdiction training and equipment including implementing a statewide K9 program, formed the Air Support Unit, formed the Technical Reconstruction Unit for crash recon's and a smattering of other things.

The crash recon program has taken off by leaps and bounds, with the TRU handling crime scene mapping for numerous high profile criminal cases in addition to motor vehicle crash reconstructions. I would expect that the new K9 program will also expand as resources and money allow.

Even though WSP is the smallest state law enforcement agency in the country (per capita served), we can hold our own.

 

[ctadam12]

Thanks for the info, State! Do they field from multiple substations or from their residents? Can you provide some unit designator examples, unit working Racine county etc. Also..Do you give tours of your facility?

 

[OpSec]

Do they field from multiple substations or from their residents? Can you provide some unit designator examples, unit working Racine county etc.

Each sworn officer has an assigned take-home vehicle. There are no substations or the like, although many local departments allow WSP to use their facilities for an office and other state buildings (DOT, DOC etc) are used by local troops. There are 7 regional Post locations, so it it impractical to base field personnel from them, ergo the take-home vehicle. There are some field personnel who don't see their Post for weeks or months.

SER unit numbers are 200's for troopers, 2200's for inspectors. If you you listen to the radio, you will know which county they are in based on their location. I'm not in a position to elaborate on specifics for common sense and regulatory reasons. That said, much of the routine radio traffic has disappeared to the computers so our dispatch channels are quieter than they used to be. Hot calls will still be on the radio.

I will PM you later.

 

[ctadam12]

Okay, Thanks for the info. I will listen up...

 

[RevGary]

Hey, Stateboy -

How about if we all 'lobby' to have WSP go back to Low Band VHF like CHP ??? LOL...

Let me see, now...42.040 and 42.380 seem to be active under KAZ430 at the moment... LOL.

Gee, now where did they store that 40 pound Motorola trunk mount with the remote head for under the dash ???...

 

[triryche]

Each sworn officer has an assigned take-home vehicle. There are no substations or the like, although many local departments allow WSP to use their facilities for an office. There are 7 regional Post locations, so it it impractical to base field personnel from them, ergo the take-home vehicle. There are some field personnel who don't see their Post for weeks or months.
.

Nice report dude.

In Dist. 3, or Northeast Region..whatever we are calling it now, they shack up at the scales on I-43 in Manitowoc Co. and also have a small office in the DMV center in Sheboygan. A few years ago, they used to also have access to facilities at the Sheboygan Falls PD but I think that was mainly because 3 troopers including one of the supervisors for the district lived in the community. Unknown if this is still the case there. I'm sure there are more but these just happen to be close to home for me.

 

[OpSec]

Hey, Stateboy -

How about if we all 'lobby' to have WSP go back to Low Band VHF like CHP ??? LOL...

Let me see, now...42.040 and 42.380 seem to be active under KAZ430 at the moment... LOL.

Gee, now where did they store that 40 pound Motorola trunk mount with the remote head for under the dash ???...

Lowband and ball mounts for the win.

I'm game. I love lowband. Besides my CHP exposure, I was just at the Missouri State Highway Patrol GHQ and radio shop over the summer and they love lowband too. Their current gear is 110w lowband and 50w highband Kenwood x90 radios, lowband ball mount antennae for the cars and 3,000 watt custom-built base stations. That isn't a typo...they are 3,000 watts per base if run at full tilt. On a normal day the comm centers run each troop dispatch channel at 1,500 watts. When they have high enforcement periods, natural disasters, special callouts etc, the comm centers kick the power up to the full 3,000 watts so each troop dispatch channel can be heard statewide. Their reason? I quote: "Just in case"

The unofficial MSHP motto should be "Biggest signal in the Midwest"

I can see the RFP now: "Bidder must be able to supply 1,200 110w VHF low radios, capable of continuous operation from 40-50 MHz, capable of plug and play interface to Pyramid repeaters and a channel capacity of at least 170 channels in at least 8 zones/groups."

I like it. I should photoshop an A/S ball mount on the side of a CVPI...

 

[radio50]

Let me see, now...42.040 and 42.380 seem to be active under KAZ430 at the moment... LOL.

Ahhh, those were the days (mid 1960s) - lol. Back then I scrounged a junked rack-mount lowband receiver that I converted to 42.38, and listened to WSP transmitting from Delafield - ? That, along with my Knight-Kit KG-221 for VHF, tuned to Milwaukee PD on 159.15 (see my avatar) and I was all set.

 

[KB9NLL]

In NorthEast region (formerly district 3) on hwy 41 northbound between kaukauna- Outagamie co. and Depere- Brown co. (Wrightstown?) at the weight station I have seen anywhere from none to four state patrol cars parked by the building. Just for the record I dont go through there that often.

And there is a map of jurisdictions and all the unit numbers somewhere. Can't remember of hand if on this site I checked out a lot of different official state sites and saved the info on my computer. When I get home I'll check it out and relay any usefull sites to check out not the data itself (their maps) but the website links. You never now it might be copy righted or something.

 

[RevGary]

WSP Low Band Seen Near Madison

During a recent trip to the Madison area, we noticed a WSP cruiser parked in the median on I-90/94 near Highway 151... took a photo of it because it had a low band antenna on it and that looked kind of cool...


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