Excellence and integrity dashboard
Excellence and integrity are part of the State Patrol’s five core values. The others are respect, courage and honor. It is extremely important for State Patrol members to follow these values as they interact with the public every day. We aim for excellence through the development of forward-thinking leadership, technology, innovation and a quality workforce.
This page highlights some of the great work done by the State Patrol. It also shows see how we hold ourselves accountable to our core values.
Awards
The Minnesota State Patrol values outstanding work by both our employees and people outside the organization. We officially recognize these efforts with the following awards.
Here are the total number of awards given:
| Award | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Meritorious Service | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Life Saving | 16 | 14 | 18 |
| Purple Heart | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Meritorious Citizenship | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| MSP Commendation | 0 | 12 | 11 |
| Chief's Commendation | 66 | 78 | 79 |
| Exceptional Service | 6 | 31 | 19 |
| Communications/911 | 8 | 6 | 10 |
Integrity
As result of our agency's commitment to our core values, we have a very low occurrence of external and internal complaints. This is shown in the graph below.
| Event | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Contacts | 383,528 | 437,413 | 470,463 |
| Complaints | 14 | 27 | 13 |
The State Patrol takes complaints made against members of our agency seriously. All complaints alleging serious misconduct, like harassment, discrimination, excessive use of force, or violations of First Amendment rights, are handled by DPS' Internal Affairs/Affirmative Action (IA/AA) division. This division is independent of the State Patrol and reports directly to the Commissioner's Office.
The following data shows the complaints handled by IA/AA and the investigatory outcomes.
Complaints
| Complaint type | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal complaints | 10 | 14 | 12 |
| External complaints | 4 | 13 | 1 |
| Total complaints | 14 | 27 | 13 |
Outcomes
| Outcome | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustained | 12 | 11 | 9 |
| Not sustained/exonerated | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Discontinued/closed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Open | 0 | 13 | 3 |
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