Michigan State Police
When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, the Michigan National Guard was called to federal service. Governor Albert Sleeper feared German agents and radical labor groups would disrupt war production and initiated the legislation that allowed him to assemble the Michigan State Troops. Known also as the Michigan Cavalry or Michigan Constabulary, the troops headquartered in East Lansing under the command of Colonel Roy C. Vandercook. Reorganized as a peacetime force after the war, the state police went from horseback to motorcycles and patrol cars in the 1920s. After eighteen years, the "temporary" Michigan State Police became permanent under legislation passed in 1935.