The Vermont State Police have a new leader.
Col. Matthew Birmingham became head of the agency on Friday afternoon, succeeding Col. Thomas L'Esperance, who is retiring after 28 years.
Birmingham has been with the Vermont State Police since 1998. He started his career as a trooper assigned to the Rutland Barracks. In 2002, he transferred to the Vermont Drug Task Force as an investigator and moved up through the ranks as commander of the organization, commander of Special Investigations, and most recently as the deputy director for the past year.
Birmingham has spent a majority of his career focused on fighting the opiate epidemic facing the state.
A retirement dinner was scheduled Friday night for L'Esperance, who became a state trooper in Brattleboro in 1987. He took command in 2009.
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