The Colorado State Patrol has named Trooper Dennis Guffey, of the Fruita Troop Office in Mesa County, its 2025 Trooper of the Year, citing 96 impaired-driving arrests and a year of leadership that spanned military service, academic achievement and community outreach.

Guffey recorded the highest number of impaired-driving arrests by any individual trooper in the agency in 2025. While serving part of the year on the Colorado State Patrol Statewide DUI Team, he proactively removed 82 impaired drivers from Colorado roadways and arrested another 14 impaired drivers at crash scenes.

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During the same year, he completed a doctoral degree in criminal justice and continued serving as a Sergeant First Class in the United States Army Reserves. Despite those commitments, he taught the Standardized Field Sobriety Test class at the Colorado Mesa University Tech Police Academy during both semesters and the Evidential Breath Alcohol Testing class at the Colorado State Patrol Academy, helping to train other Colorado law enforcement officers.

Guffey also participated in two Shop with a Cop events during the 2025 holiday season and represented his duty station in the Tip a Cop fundraiser for Colorado Special Olympics, where his location collected the most donations in the state.

The Fruita Troop covers Mesa and Garfield counties on Colorado's Western Slope. The Colorado State Patrol said Guffey's work has a significant positive impact on traffic safety in the region.

The Trooper of the Year award is presented each year to the member who best demonstrates outstanding work performance, initiative, leadership, character and integrity, and whose actions significantly exceed expectations while exemplifying the agency's core values of honor, duty and respect.