The Missouri State Highway Patrol announces that Captain Matthew C. Walz has been designated the director of the Water Patrol Division starting next month. Colonel J. Bret Johnson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, says that as director of the division, Capt. Walz will serve as Missouri’s state boating law administrator.

Capt. Walz grew up in Jefferson City, and graduated from Jefferson City High School in 1984. Walz has two children, Victoria, 16, and Zachary, 14.

He has decades of experience with the patrol dating back to 1990 when he was appointed to the water patrol as communications operator.

After graduating from the Water Patrol Academy, Walz was assigned to Lake of the Ozarks. He transferred to Table Rock Lake on February 3, 1997. On May 1, 2000, he was promoted to corporal and assigned to St. Louis County. Walz was promoted to sergeant on September 1, 2001, and assigned to the Lake of the Ozarks. He was promoted to captain and designated training commander at the Water Patrol General Headquarters in Jefferson City, on September 1, 2005. Walz transferred to the Lake of the Ozarks on November 1, 2005, as district commander over the Central Missouri Region.

On January 1, 2011, Capt. Walz transferred to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop F Headquarters, Jefferson City. On January 1, 2015, he transferred to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Water Patrol Division, General Headquarters. Capt. Walz also serves on the National Boating Safety Advisory Council, which advises the U.S. Coast Guard on recreational boating safety issues.

Captain Mark E. Richerson, the current director of the Water Patrol Division, will retire effective September 1, 2016, after over 30 years of service. Captain Walz begins his new duties July 1.

(News Release)