MINNEAPOLIS — The 70th Minnesota State Patrol class has accomplished something that no other class has done in 50 years.
“When this class started in January, there were 42 who showed to family orientation day, and today we graduated those same 42 cadets, which normally doesn’t happen,” Col. Christina Bogojevic, MSP, said.
The last time an entire class started and graduated together was in the 1970s.
“This is such a rare occurrence. It has been five decades. But they agreed in January that they would encourage and support each other to return every Sunday,” she explained.
One of the cadets was Hsa Lar.
“I’m proud, I’m happy, and I’m ready to serve the community and give back to them,” Lar told the crowd.
Lar’s hometown is Marshall, Minnesota, but he was born abroad.
“My family fled to Thailand due to the civil war in Myanmar, where I was born. “I came to the United States when I was 11,” he explained.
“Life there was difficult because we weren’t rich, we didn’t have anything, most of the day we would go out without having anything to eat, and it’s difficult, but we get through it each day.”
When Lar and his family first arrived in the United States, they settled in Boston. Three months later, they relocated to Minnesota.
“They could decide not to accept me into this country. Instead, they accepted me, and I want to repay them and express my gratitude for providing us with this opportunity,” he said.
Lar said he and his twin brother wished to give back to the community that welcomed them.
“We wanted to do the same thing, so we decided to pursue a career in law enforcement to give back to the community that has accepted us. “We didn’t have a community growing up,” Lar explained.
Lar’s twin is a police officer in Worthington, the city where he is now assigned to patrol.
Bogojevic stated that their recruitment numbers are increasing, and this class will help fill several positions.
“We are approximately 90 positions down but that was prior to today, so we’ve cut that in half, and our recruitment numbers for next year are really promising,” Bogojevic told the crowd.
She stated that 21 of the 42 cadets applied through the Law Enforcement Training Opportunity process. This programme allows people with a two or four-year degree to come into the agency, where MSP will pay for their college skills portion before they enter the academy.