The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-09-24

On July /, 1929, thirty-seven
carefully selected men stood on
the steps of the State Capitol and
were sworn in as the first mem
bers of the North Carolina High
way Patrol. the ceremony came
only after a battle, carried on in
the General Assembly and the
editorial columns of the states
newspapers, between those who
saw the need for professional en-
forcement and those who feared
that a State Patrol might become
the kind of political police force
that had emerged in other states
The Patrol was on trial, in the
eyes of the people and the Gen
eral Assembly. Through the past
twenty-five years it has acquit-
ted itself with honor. 1t has
grown in numbers from the orr
ginal thirty-seven to its present
uniform strength of 531, and has
been welded into a respected,
trained, and efficient law en-
forcement team. The old motor
cycles and cavalry-style outfits
have been replaced by modern
patrol cars and smartly tailored
uniforms. The old trial and error
law enforcement methods have
disappeared. Today the Patrols
Acknowledgement program is
carefully planned and built
around the latest devices and
techniques which modern science
can provide.
Many Are Called
The State Highway Patrol
caught the fancy of young men
in the state at the very begin
ming. There were about eighteen
hundred applications for the orr
ginal twenty-seven positions as
| patrolmen. The officers of the
Patrol, selected earlier, were able
to pick and choose. This they did,
and seventy men representing
| the cream of the crop reported
for training to Camp Glenn at
Morehead City on May 20, 1929
BY late June, only thirty-one OF
these, along with nine lieuten-
ants and Captain Charles D.
Farmer commanding began a
motorcade across the state the
day after classroom training end
ed. The trip began at Beaufort
on June %, crossed the state as
! far west as Asheville, and ended
at Raleigh on June 81, 1929. Cap
tain Farmer drove Buick, the
lieutenants had Ford coupes, ano
the twenty-seven patrolmen rode
motorcycles. In spite of several
bad spills, all men made it to the
swearing-in ceremony on July l.
They Take The Road
After the swearing-in cere-
mony, each lieutenant and three
patrolmen went to their assigned
divisions, which correspond to
the nine divisions of the State
Highway Commission, the super
vising agency at that time for
the Patrol. Patrolmen were
equipped with one complete uni
form, motorcycle, revolver,
and pair of goggles. Their daily
schedule depended to large ex-
tent on their own initiative, but
a book of regulations issued by
the State Highway Commission
set out this guide:
Inasmuch as the primary func-
ton of the Patrol is road pa
troll" inclement weather will
not be considered an excuse
for failure to comply with reg
ulations. II is not necessary.
however. to ride motor equip
ment any great distance in in
clement weather: however,
bad hills. curves. and ap-
proaches to grade crossings
and bridges should be guarded.
and motorists warned of the
danger which turks ahead.
There is only one interpreta-
tion of this rule and failure TO
comply will result in disciplin-
airy action.
For the first two years patrol
men received an annual salary of
$1,000. In 1881 the legislature re-
duced salaries 1917, and later in
the same year the depression
forced another $50 salary re-
duction.
They Grow In Numbers
The Patrol increased in num-
bers steadily with every other
legislature until World War II
began. In 1881 thirty men were
added, bringing the strength of
the Patrol to 81; in 1885 fifty
four men brought the total to
121; and in 1889 fifty-two addi-
tons gave the Patrol an author
lied strength of 173 men. When
the 1941 legislature allowed an
increase of forty men, the Patrol
had 213 members, and it opera