Middletown Press Editor Viktoria Sundqvist recently attended the first of 10 classes of a Citizens Academy at the Connecticut State Police Training Academy in Meriden. Below are the top 10 most interesting facts from the history of the Connecticut State Police:

1. Connecticut State Police officially started on May 29, 1903, and is considered the oldest state police agency in the nation. The first department had five troopers, whose main purpose were to enforce liquor and gaming laws

2. The very first state police budget was $13,737 (when police officers did raids and collected fines in the early years, they got to keep the money to offset the budget)

3. A state police museum is in the works next to the forensic lab in Meriden. It’s expected to open by September and feature thousands of artifacts

4. Connecticut State Police officers had no uniforms for the first 17 years (until 1921). Officers simply pinned their badge on the inside of their suit jackets.

5. One of the first active female state police officers was Zola Bennett, officially on the books as a stenographer, but really working as an investigator and solving cases (“lady assistants” were hired in 1921 to help interrogate and arrest female suspects). The first “official” state policewomen were Evelyn Briggs and Catherine Haggerty, who were hired in 1942

6. The first African-American trooper was hired in 1961. His name was Albert Washington, and he was the second highest scorer on the entry exam (The first black state trooper in the nation was William B. Lindsay, who was hired in 1941 by Illinois State Police)

7. The Connecticut State Police K-9 unit was formed in 1934. Officers went to Canada to train with the mountain police. The first two K-9 officers were a German shepherd and a Doberman (the Doberman was a gift from the mountain police). Now, the CSP K-9 department is considered one of the best in the world

8. In 1923, Connecticut State Police officers lived in the police barracks and got two days off per month. In 1930, their salary was $91/month. In 1951 the workweek changed to 60 hours per week, and the pay was at $1.12 an hour.

9. In 1986, “Mattie” the Labrador comes to the department to help sniff arson scenes. Mattie was the first fire accelerant detection dog to be used in the United States

10. The first two-way radio in a vehicle was used in a Connecticut State Police cruiser in 1941, created by Dr. Daniel E. Noble. It worked so well that the Secret Service came to Connecticut to use the ideas for the design to better protect the president (prior to the two-way radio in vehicles, messages would be called in to the radio station and read over the air, hence the start of the expression “calling all cars” to alert officers on the road that the message was for them)