SYSTEM OVERVIEW
These three divisions of the state patrol work together to keep the motoring public safe on state roadways.
CHALLENGES
All state law enforcement agencies were selected to undergo improvement projects in 2025 due to their crucial impact on public safety and high utilization of state General Funds. Three specific challenges were identified:
- Due to the broad nature of the work these divisions perform, determining specific customer outcomes to focus on and how to measure them has historically been difficult.
- Important statewide measures — such as the number of roadway fatalities — have been difficult to meaningfully impact and have generally remained stagnant over the long term.
- Because these divisions cover almost 200,000 miles of roadway, implementing strategies with enough focus to drive results while balancing enforcement across the state has been difficult to achieve.
IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES
- Clearly identified the primary purpose of the divisions and implemented appropriate measures to assess whether that purpose is being fulfilled. Leadership determined the ultimate purpose is to ensure the safety of the motoring public. They chose to measure success primarily as total fatal crashes per hundred million miles driven, with a specific target to reduce that number by 10% in 2025 compared to 2024. Secondary crashes (crashes involving previous crashes) and enforcement actions (arrests, stops, citations, etc.) were also identified as meaningful measures to track and address.
- Identified hotspot areas — high-crash, high-fatality locations — to focus trooper time and effort. This was accomplished by creating a user-friendly report that overlays crash data on a map of state roadways. The report is routinely used by patrol leadership and relevant partners.
- Deployed troopers to identified hotspots multiple times each month, focusing effort toward reducing fatal crashes in the locations where they are most likely to occur.
- Revised frontline measures to align efforts with system priorities and targets.
- Identified and removed barriers preventing troopers from spending more time on the road and other work that promotes public safety.
RESULTS
- Fatal crashes per million miles traveled have dropped 13% (approximately 29 fewer deaths) when comparing calendar year 2025 to calendar year 2024.
- Crashes resulting in serious injuries are on target to be reduced by 9.4% (63 fewer) in 2025 compared to 2024.
- The percentage of crashes involving a previous crash (secondary crash rate) dropped by 9% from August 2024 to July 2025 compared to 2024, a result of effective and timely crash clearance efforts across the state.
- Field enforcement activities — including warnings, tickets, and similar actions — increased by 9.9% (approximately 1,000 more per month) when comparing the most recent 12 months (November 2024 through October 2025) to 2024.
- Troopers have made more arrests each year since 2022. By the end of 2025 they are on target to have made 25,305 total arrests, which is 25.5% more than were made in 2022.
- Using a new fleet inventory management model, fleet quality and reliability have been maintained while saving $750K (25% of the purchasing budget).
These significant outcomes were achieved while also identifying opportunities to save $2.5M in General Fund appropriations.
