Hospital security officer makes the cut-graduates MN State Police academy
Owatonna MN May 9 2020
The highways of Minnesota got a little bit safer this spring.
The 61st Training Academy concluded with a ceremony held on April 11 at Camp Ripley, where 22 cadets graduated to join the ranks of Minnesota state troopers. In accordance with state social distancing standards, the event was livestreamed for families and friends of the cadets.
Among the 22 cadets who participated in the ceremony was Brennon Brase of Owatonna. Before joining the academy, Brase had been a security officer at the Owatonna Hospital for two years.
“While working at the hospital, I witnessed a lot of mental illness, and drug and alcohol influences with the patients and I saw the impact it had on their families,” Brase said. “I wanted to do more to help them.” It was this desire to help the community that inspired him to join the academy and aspire to become a state trooper.
Brase and his fellow graduates are part of a unique class that, along with their training, had to adapt to the new challenges brought on by the current COVID-19 Pandemic. The regular 16-week course had been condensed to 14, with Brase and the other cadets staying at Ripley seven days a week in order to complete the required training. They also have become accustomed to regular briefings and updates from the CDC so that they may adjust their tactics to CDC guidelines, he said.
The training consisted of numerous activities including motor vehicle crash investigation, traffic law, emergency vehicle operations, firearms, defensive tactics and communication and scenario-based training.
“We’ve graduated all sorts of troopers since 1929.” Minnesota State Patrol Chief Matt Langer said during their ceremony. “We’ve graduated the very first class, we’ve graduated World War II-era troopers, we’ve graduated Vietnam-era troopers, we’ve graduated 9/11-era troopers, and now we graduate a COVID-19 era of troopers. You have a story that no one else has in our history.”
