Virginia State Police Graduates 129th Generation of New Troopers

RICHMOND, VA – On Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, the Commonwealth graduated its 129th generation of Virginia State Troopers. The 80 new troopers were presented their diplomas during commencement exercises at 10 a.m. at the State Police Training Academy located at 7700 Midlothian Turnpike in North Chesterfield County. Governor Ralph Northam and Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Ryant Washington were in attendance of the graduation ceremony.

The new troopers have received more than 1,300 hours of classroom and field instruction in more than 100 different subjects, including defensive tactics, crime scene investigation, ethics and leadership, survival Spanish, police professionalism, firearms, judicial procedures, officer survival, cultural diversity, and crisis management. The members of the 129th Basic Session began their 30 weeks of academic, physical and practical training at the Academy July 25, 2018.

The graduates of the 129th Basic Session are from every corner of the Commonwealth, as well as New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The new troopers will report to their individual duty assignments across Virginia this week. For their final phase of training, each trooper will spend an additional six weeks paired up with a Field Training Officer learning his or her new patrol area.