The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Jackson Post has named Trooper Nicholas L. Thornton its 2026 Trooper of the Year, the Patrol announced in a release reported by Hopewell Heritage Headlines. Thornton, 32, who lives in Chillicothe, was chosen by his fellow troopers at the post.
The troopers who picked him pointed to his work attitude, leadership abilities, community engagement and professionalism with supervisors, peers and the public, according to the Patrol’s announcement as reported by Hopewell Heritage Headlines. Post Trooper of the Year honors are voted on by the troopers assigned to the post itself, which makes the award a peer judgment as much as an official one.
Thornton is a Ross County product. He attended Southeastern High School in Ross County and now calls Chillicothe home, according to the announcement reported by Hopewell Heritage Headlines. He joined the Patrol in 2016 as a member of the 160th Academy Class and has served at the Xenia, Chillicothe and Jackson posts.
Before the Patrol, Thornton served in the U.S. Army from 2012 to 2015, with postings at Camp Casey in South Korea and Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Hopewell Heritage Headlines reported from the Patrol’s announcement.
It is not his first recognition. Thornton has earned the Patrol’s Criminal Patrol Award in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2025, the ACE Award in 2019, and Master Trooper Recognition in 2026, according to the announcement.
The Jackson Post covers Jackson County and the surrounding southeast Ohio counties from its base in Jackson, and its troopers handle everything from U.S. 35 and U.S. 23 crash investigations to the criminal patrol work Thornton has been repeatedly recognized for over the past eight years.
Put together, Thornton’s record spans two uniforms and more than a decade of public service: three years in the Army, then a Patrol career that began in 2016 and has now covered three posts across western and southeastern Ohio. The Criminal Patrol Awards recognize troopers whose enforcement work takes drugs, impaired drivers and wanted felons off Ohio highways, and earning the award four times — most recently in 2025 — alongside this year’s Master Trooper Recognition marks a sustained run rather than a single strong year, according to the record the Patrol released.
What happens next: with the post honor, Thornton is now in the running for the Jackson District and State Trooper of the Year awards. The Patrol will announce those winners at a later date, according to its announcement.