OTHER VIEWS: Minnesota state troopers get long-overdue pay bump, appreciation From the editorial: "It’s no wonder troopers have been abandoning the highway patrol for higher paydays in suburban and other local departments or in the private sector." Written By: Duluth News Tribune Editorial Board | 11:00 am, Jul. 14, 2021 × Minnesota Opinion editorial Two years ago, the Minnesota legislative auditor’s office scoured law enforcement contracts, crunched numbers, and found something alarming: Minnesota’s state troopers — the officers deployed repeatedly in the past year and a half or so to help keep the peace at protests, deter unrest, and protect public property and civil rights outside our state Capitol and elsewhere — are paid less than police officers in every one of 33 Minnesota cities examined, with the exception of Duluth.