Alabama Highway Patrol
| Alabama Law Enforcement Agency | |
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| Abbreviation | ALEA |
Patch of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency
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Alabama Highway Patrol Door Seal
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Badge of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency
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| Motto | Courtesy, Service, Protection |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1936 |
| Employees | 1,268 (as of 2004) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of Alabama, USA |
| Size | 52,419 square miles (135,760 km2) |
| Population | 4,627,851 (2007 est.) |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Montgomery, Alabama |
| Trooper / Special Agents | 681 (as of 2004) |
| Civilians | 587 (as of 2004) |
| Agency executive | Major Herman Wright, Division Chief |
| Parent agency | Alabama Department of Public Safety |
| Facilities | |
| Posts | 17 |
| Website | |
| Official AHP website | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is the de facto state police organization for the U.S. state of Alabama, and which has full jurisdiction anywhere in the State. The Alabama Highway Patrol was created in 1936 to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of Alabamians.
In 1971 the Alabama Highway Patrol became the first police organization in the United States to use down-sized vehicles for regular highway patrol duties. This pre-dated, among others, the Camaros and Mustangs that were used by other departments years later. The AMC Javelins were the first pony cars used as police cars by any U.S. organization.
The Alabama Highway Patrol evaluated two versions supplied by Reinhardt AMC of Montgomery, Alabama: a 1971 AMC Javelin SST with a 304 cu in (5.0 L) V8 and a 1971 Javelin-AMX with a 401 cu in (6.6 L) V8 engine. Because they were so different than the traditional police cars, the Javelin AMX "was the most abused police car in the history of Alabama." The "401-cu.in. V-8, three-speed automatic and 2.87 gears were good for about 140 mph, by which point the nose of the car started to get rather light."
After this trial, the first order was for 61 cars finished in silver and ten unmarked cars in various colors. Due to further cost-cutting reasons they were base model Javelins with heavy-duty "fleet" equipment, "machine wheels" with Goodyear Polyglas raised-white-lettered tires, and a rear spoiler (normally available only on a Javelin AMX model) to display the "State Trooper" markings on the rear of each car. A '401' emblem covered the holes in the spoiler to replace the AMX emblem. During 1972, a total of 62 Javelins were ordered: 12 in all silver paint, 42 were finished with the hoods, decklids, and spoilers in blue over silver body as the new police car scheme, as well as eight were unmarked cars in various colors. The 1972 models were only available from AMC as "SST" versions and included additional exterior and interior trim. The 1972 versions were delivered by Reinhardt AMC and also by Bill Whitten AMC/Datsun in Birmingham.
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Wikipedia