Tuesday marked the beginning of the 100th year of service for the Washington State Patrol, kicking off a year of remembrance and celebration for the department.

Troopers can elect to wear the new “Centennial Badge,” matching those worn by the first patrolmen. The year leads up to Sept. 1, 2021, the 100th anniversary of the department’s first day out on patrol.

Originally known as the Washington Highway Patrol in 1921, the department’s role was limited to traffic enforcement in the first years. Patrolmen were equipped with a badge, side arm, Highway Patrol armband and World War I Indian motorcycle. Horses outnumbered cars on the road at the time, with less than a thousand miles of paved roads statewide.

The Moses Lake WSP detachment was originally part of District 4 out of Spokane before the agency expanded to six districts in 1948. Moses Lake moved to District 6 in Wenatchee. Other detachments in Ephrata and around the Basin have since closed, leaving Moses Lake as one of four in the district.

The detachment’s original location was near where Chico’s Pizza Parlor resides now, before moving to its current spot off the freeway on Laguna Drive.

Sergeant Darren Wright serves as public information officer for government and media relations with the Washington State Patrol, and spent nearly 30 years in the district after joining the department in 1991. A unique challenge posed by the area of Grant County is the blend of agriculture and interstate traffic that occurs here.

“Nowhere else do we have as much integration, in my opinion, between agriculture and interstate,” Wright said. “We have the trucks, farm equipment, stuff like that, and right there by the interstate, so quite a bit of use on that.”

Wright said that blend is something that makes the area unique compared to other districts in the state.

In regard to current conversations regarding law enforcement going on around the country, he said the department is always seeking to improve and meet its motto of “service with humility.”

He said everyone in law enforcement is currently “weathering a storm,” but he said that’s what is needed. Through this struggle, he said the WSP will hopefully find ways to better meet the needs of the community as best it can.

Hearing a lot of the conversations going on, Wright said he is reminded of when he was first starting out with the patrol.

“I remember troopers that were getting ready to retire when I was a new guy, and they’d tell me, ‘It’s a different world, things are changing, I don’t know how you’re gonna survive a career starting out now,’” Wright said. “And we hear that about the new guys now, and it’s always been that way. There’s always been change, there’s always been advancement and improvement.”

Most of the changes veterans were concerned about when he started with the WSP turned out mostly positive, he said. While things may seem difficult now, he said changes that will come as a result of it all will make the future brighter.

The agency has come a long way since 1921 when the first 16 patrolmen were sworn in. Troopers in Moses Lake, and across the state, look to continue to build off the legacy in place as they continue to work toward the future.