News Photo by Jason Ogden Michigan State Police Alpena Post Sgt. Joe Richards wears MSP’s newly adopted “campaign” style trooper hat that is modeled after the original 1917 MSP trooper hat and holds the agency’s garrison-style hat. Lt. Mike Shaw said troopers will be wearing the “new” hat for the indefinite future to celebrate the agency’s 100th anniversary.

ALPENA — Michigan State Police personnel will have a new look for 2017 as the department transitions over to traditional “campaign” hats to celebrate the department’s 100th anniversary.

Public Information Officer Mike Shaw said the hats are the original hat design worn by troopers when the agency was established in 1917. Not many years after the agency’s establishment the hat design changed to the “garrison” hat design, a fabric hat with hard bill on the front, Shaw said.

He said the switch back to the original hat was just one of the things troopers are doing to celebrate their 100th anniversary.

“We’re having a special event at the North American Auto Show, and an event at a NASCAR race but the notable thing we’re doing is we’ve changed our hat to the campaign hat,” he said.

According to Shaw, troopers voted to change back to the hat design, which resembles a Royal Canadian Mounted Police rider hat with a wide round bill, dimples on the top and a leather strap on the back to hold the hat on the officer’s head. The hat is made from a type of straw that is compressed into shape and then coated with a hard lacquer finish. The hat, like the old “garrison” hat design features the officer’s badge.

Troopers began wearing the “new” hats last week, Shaw said, including all personnel at the Alpena post. He said a vote of 80 percent of troopers in the state is what made the switch to the old hat design.

“I think for most of us it looks better than the old garrison hat,” he said.

Another reason is it is a similar design to most of the state trooper hats worn by departments across the country, according to Shaw, who said Michigan was just one of a few states to have a differing hat design.

“It may be a different color, but most of the state agencies had the campaign hat,” he said.

According to Shaw, the hat harkens back to the days when troopers — before automobiles — patrolled communities on horseback, wearing the hats.

“We didn’t have posts in the early days,” he said. “We went on horseback and wherever we had to go we depended on the community to help put us up for the night.”

Horses soon were replaced by patrol motorcycles, and eventually patrol cars, according to Shaw.

As another commemoration of the department’s 100th anniversary, each MSP post will be getting a special Dodge Charger painted in one of the original paint schemes.

Shaw said the paint scheme was an all-black patrol vehicle with a golden “V” painted across the hood and along the doors. Although patrol vehicles, sometimes called The Blue Goose, are blue today they feature the distinctive hood sign and red flashing bubble as the first MSP cars had, Shaw said.

According to Shaw there will be 50 cars ordered with the 1930s paint scheme.

He said the changes to commemorate MSP are very important for the agency.

“It’s something that we talk about from the very first day,” Shaw said. “You treat others the way you want to be treated. That is the foundation of the troops. When we first started there were only 300 of us for law enforcement across the state. We’re not on horseback anymore, but we still have the same foundation and thoughts of community service that these guys had in the beginning.”

Jason Ogden can be reached via email at jogden@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5693. Follow Jason on Twitter @jo_alpenanews. Read his blog, Sunny side up, with Jason at www.thealpenanews.com.