Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Members of the Michigan State Police dive team are on hand to let children tour the boat at MSP Wakefield Post's 95th anniversary open house on Thursday.
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Post of the Michigan State Police celebrated 95 years serving Michigan Wednesday with an open house for citizens to meet personnel and find out more about what state troopers do.
Jay Peterson was on hand from the state crime lab in Marquette, which has a brand new facility with state-of-the-art equipment. The lab not only processes fingerprints there, but also handles polygraphs and drug analyses.
One of seven crime labs in the state, the Marquette lab handles the entire Upper Peninsula. Peterson said it also documents crime scenes, which can take up to three days, depending on the complexity of the individual case.
Sgt. Bill Wickstrom, team leader for the U.P. emergency support team, said his team is used a lot in situations where a gunman is barricaded, securing a hazardous site and augmenting the Secret Service.
The emergency support team’s robot attended the open house. Wickstrom said it is deployed in situations where danger is high, because it is much more preferable to repair or replace a robot than to lose an officer.
Members of the MSP dive team from St. Ignace were also in town for the open house, along with their boat, which children enjoyed climbing aboard.
MSP posts throughout the state will be commemorating 95 years of service in the coming months, said Wakefield Post Commander Don Horn. He chose Wednesday for the celebration to coincide with Wakefield's Independence Day festivities, which included a town picnic and fireworks over Sunday Lake.
