Col. Matt Langer said the demonstrations in St. Paul and Minneapolis over the last few days has forced the Minnesota State Patrol to mobilize personnel in a way unlike anything seen in more than 90 years in the state.
"We have done something we've never done in the history of our organization since 1929 in terms of the mobilization of our state troopers across Minnesota that have come to the metro area to do what we can, to get back to what we believe in as an organization as the Minnesota State Patrol, that we respect integrity, courage, honor and excellence. That's who we are, and that's who we believe Minnesotans are too," Langer said.
Langer emphasized that his staff's "job is to get out there, in the middle of the mission that we're confronted with right now, to stop the criminal behavior that we have been seeing and to prevent the criminal behavior that we regretfully anticipate we will see tonight and into the near future."