State police (United States)
In the United States, the state police is a police body unique to each U.S. state, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In general, state police officers or highway patrol officers, known as state troopers, perform functions that do not fall within the jurisdiction of a county’s sheriff (Vermont being a notable exception), such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstates, overseeing security of state capitol complexes, protecting governors, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy and providing technological and scientific services. They also support local police and help to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in states that grant full police powers statewide.
A general trend has been to bring all of these agencies under a state-level Department of Public Safety. Additionally, they may serve under different state departments, such as the Highway Patrol under the state Department of Transportation and the marine patrol under the Department of Natural Resources. Twenty-three U.S. states use the term "State Police." Forty-nine states have a State Police agency or its equivalent, with Hawaii being the only state with a Sheriff Division of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety with statewide jurisdiction.
Missouri
North Carolina
Ohio
a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
Connecticut State Police
a division of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security
Delaware State Police
Hawaii State Sheriff Division a division of the
Hawaii Department of Public Safety
Idaho State Police
Illinois State Police
Indiana State Police
Kansas Highway Patrol
a division of the Maine Department of Public Safety
Maine State Police
Maryland State Police
an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security
Massachusetts State Police
Michigan State Police
Nebraska State Patrol
New York State Police
a division of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety; also North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
North Dakota Highway Patrol
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Columbus, Ohio
Oregon State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
a division of the Vermont Department of Public Safety
Vermont State Police
an independent division
Washington State Patrol
a division of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety
West Virginia State Police
Agencies without comment are independent agencies.
(DPS) exist in 31 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Vermont) and the territory of Puerto Rico; often these are umbrella organizations which provide oversight and coordination over various state or territory-level police agencies, such as State Police, State Bureau of Investigation, or Highway Patrols.
Department of Public Safety
State Sheriff
Hawaii
: The functions of the State Marshals Office include Courtroom/Judicial Security (bailiffs), Court Facility and Cellblock Operation, Inmate Transportation, Interstate Extraditions, Interstate Inmate Transfers, Writ Service and Body Attachments.
State Marshal (Connecticut)
: another organization with many various titles and may be part of the actual State Police or Highway Patrol. Many belong their state's Department of Transportation or even the Secretary of State. These agencies conduct vehicle inspections and enforce the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) as mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). They conduct safety inspections of commercial motor vehicles (primarily trucks and buses), inspects highway shipments of hazardous materials, and performs compliance reviews (safety performance audits) on motor carriers. The DPS adopts and enforces driver and vehicle safety regulations and hazardous materials regulations as part of this program. Both the Arkansas Highway Police and the New Hampshire Highway Patrols are motor carrier enforcement agencies.
Motor Carrier Enforcement
: Charged to enforce state hunting, and fishing laws. Most Game Wardens can also enforce all state laws (traffic, drugs, etc.). In some states, they can be the enforcement arm of an agency or a division of an umbrella law enforcement agency. Examples: Alaska Wildlife Troopers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Game Wardens
: Statewide office that generally deals with fire safety code, fire and arson investigation, incident analysis, and public education.
State Fire Marshal
: Colorado is currently the only state with a statewide shared reserve that commissions fully authorized peace officers as force multipliers to other agencies throughout the state.
Colorado Rangers
: In 1967, the Florida Legislature merged the responsibilities of several state criminal justice organizations to create the Bureau of Law Enforcement. The Bureau began with 94 positions, headed by a Commissioner who reported to the Governor, certain Cabinet members, two Sheriffs, and one Chief of Police. In July 1969, after government restructuring, the Bureau became the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
: The Illinois Secretary of State Police monitors amongst other things handicap parking violations.[15]
Illinois Secretary of State Police
: A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state. It may consist of several institutions, each with its own identity as a university with its own police department (university police)
State University System
Highway patrol
State bureau of investigation
Police uniforms of the United States
List of U.S. state and local law enforcement agencies
Musgrave, P. (2020). . Studies in American Political Development.