State patrol celebrates 90 years

OLYMPIA -- Former Benton County Sheriff Bob Rupp may be 96, but that didn't stop him from sharing the podium Tuesday with Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Together they helped celebrate the Washington State Patrol's 90th anniversary at a special ceremony at the capital.

Rupp, of Kennewick, is Washington's oldest living retired state trooper, having spent 34 years with the state patrol. He went on to serve three terms as Benton County sheriff.

Rupp said times have changed, but he still believes in the agency.

"I just love the state patrol," he said. "It's in my heart and it's never going to leave."

Rupp said he was happy to be surrounded by the familiar faces of fellow law enforcement officers, many of whom also are retired state troopers.

"What you do every day is a model for what every law enforcement officer ought to do throughout the nation," Gregoire told active state troopers present for the event.

The patrol's official birthday is June 8, 1921. That's when the first six officers were issued motorcycles, armbands and guns, and told to enforce the state's traffic laws.

In 1933, the agency was renamed the Washington State Patrol and troopers were given full police powers, said a news release.

About 50 retirees attended Tuesday's ceremony. And state patrol Chief John Batiste asked for a moment of silence to honor the 26 employees who have died in the line of service.

Trooper James Saunders, 31, of the Tri-Cities, was the last trooper killed, in October 1999.

Rupp said the current troopers in attendance that they "look as good as I do and I hope they live as long as I do."

This wasn't the first time Rupp emerged from retirement to support a law enforcement cause. He spoke out last year in Kennewick about the dangers of drunken driving.

Though the rate of fatal vehicle accidents per mile is 33 percent lower than the national average, the state patrol plans to launch a new program called "Target Zero" in an effort to eliminate all road fatalities by 2030, said Gregoire.

"It's an incredible goal," she said. "Some would say it's a stretch goal, but I know that with you it is one that we will obtain."

It's a goal that may have been impossible to imagine during the years Rupp served because technology was simpler.

"Coming over today in the state patrol car," Rupp said, "I've never seen so many gadgets and buttons."

He said he needed to operate just one button to use a police radio in his day.

* Brier Gabriel: 360-754-4225

This story was originally published June 8, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "State patrol celebrates 90 years."