State Police | Nearly 70 years in Culpeper

For nearly 70 years — ever since the area was named a division headquarters in 1939 — the Virginia State Police has been a fixture in Culpeper.

Organized in 1932, the State Police traces its origins to motor vehicle inspectors appointed to regulate the exponential growth of vehicles and the growing road network in the state during the late 1920s through the mid-1930s.

Culpeper joined Richmond, Wytheville and Appomattox as locations for regional headquarters for the recently formed agency.

In 1941, Culpeper joined two other stations in radio broadcasting to troopers, and in 1948 one of two open-top armored vehicles was assigned to Culpeper to augment existing equipment, according to a history compiled for the agency’s 50th and 60th anniversaries.

The State Police moved into a newly constructed headquarters building in 1954. In 1995, construction on a new, larger building began; both remain in use today at the State Police complex, located just north of town on Brandy Road.

Today, Sgt. Les Tyler ensures that public information for the State Police’s Division II headquarters is communicated to a region that includes Fauquier, Madison, Orange, Spotsylvania, Frederick, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Stafford and Warren counties, along with the
cities of Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg and Winchester.