United States
Many state police agencies in the United States take the name of "highway patrol" rather than "state police". State police agencies may fulfill the role of highway patrol. For instance, the California Highway Patrol is actually a state police agency, meaning that it is a police body having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In addition to its highway patrol duties described above, it performs functions outside the normal purview of the city police or the county sheriff, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstate expressways, overseeing the security of the state capitol complex, protecting the governor, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy, providing technological and scientific support services, and helping to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases. The California Highway Patrol also serves as bailiffs and courtroom deputies for certain state courts, such as the appellate courts and the California Supreme Court building in San Francisco. The state traffic enforcement agency retained the name "California Highway Patrol" after the merger of the smaller California State Police with the larger—and better-known—CHP and the combination of their functions into one agency.
However, some Highway Patrol organizations, such as the North Carolina State Highway Patrol are specifically charged with the enforcement of traffic laws, and while able to enforce other laws, they are not official "state police" agencies in the same vein as the California Highway Patrol or the New Jersey State Police. In other cases, states like Texas have a bona fide and appropriately-named state police department such as the Texas Department of Public Safety, of which only one arm is a highway patrol unit. In addition, the police departments of Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia have highway patrol units. A privately compiled list of Highway Patrol organizations and similar state police agencies is available on the web. The Iowa State Patrol maintains a list of phone numbers and * and # cell phone numbers for non-emergency calls to the dispatchers of the Highway Patrol organizations in all 50 states. These numbers are useful for motorists who want to report aggressive driving, driving under the influence, or other dangerous but not life-threatening situations that do not require a 9-1-1 call.
Highway patrol and state police officers are often referred to as "state troopers". A state trooper goes by the title "trooper", as in "Trooper John Smith". The term "trooper" comes from "troop", which is typically used for the geographic divisions of a highway patrol or state police organization.
- Alabama Highway Patrol
- Alaska State Troopers
- Arizona Department of Public Safety
- Arkansas State Police
- California Highway Patrol
- Colorado State Patrol
- Connecticut State Police
- Delaware State Police
- Florida Highway Patrol
- Georgia State Patrol
- Idaho State Police
- Illinois State Police
- Indiana State Police
- Iowa State Patrol
- Kansas Highway Patrol
- Kentucky State Police
- Louisiana State Police
- Maine State Police
- Maryland State Police
- Massachusetts State Police
- Michigan State Police
- Minnesota State Patrol
- Mississippi Highway Patrol
- Missouri State Highway Patrol
- Montana Highway Patrol
- Nebraska State Patrol
- Nevada Highway Patrol
- New Hampshire State Police
- New Jersey State Police
- New Mexico State Police
- New York State Police
- North Carolina State Highway Patrol
- North Dakota Highway Patrol
- Ohio State Highway Patrol
- Oklahoma Highway Patrol
- Oregon State Police
- Pennsylvania State Police
- Rhode Island State Police
- South Carolina Highway Patrol
- South Dakota Highway Patrol
- Tennessee Highway Patrol
- Texas Highway Patrol
- Utah Highway Patrol
- Vermont State Police
- Virginia State Police
- Washington State Patrol
- West Virginia State Police
- Wisconsin State Patrol
- Wyoming Highway Patrol
Read more about this topic: Highway Patrol
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