Florida Highway Patrol

Florida Highway Patrol
Abbreviation	FHP
The FHP's patch
The FHP's seal
An FHP major's badge
The State of Florida's flag
Motto	Courtesy, Service, Protection
Agency overview
Formed	1939; 78 years ago (1939)
Preceding agencies	State Road Department (1930's) Absorbed Motor Carrier Compliance (2011)
Employees	2,475 (total)
Annual budget	$275 million (2015)
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	State of Florida, US
Map of Florida Highway Patrol's jurisdiction.
Size	65,795 square miles (170,410 km2)
Population	19,317,568 (2012 est.)
Legal jurisdiction	State of Florida
Governing body	Florida Legislature
Constituting instrument	§321.05, Florida Statutes
General nature	Law enforcement Civilian police
Specialist jurisdictions	Highways, roads, and-or traffic. Vehicle safety and hazardous material transport laws and regulations, licensing, registration, insurance, etc.
Operational structure
Headquarters	Neil Kirkman Building 2900 Apalachee Pkwy Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Troopers	1,946
Civilians	529 (2017)
Agency executives	Terry L. Rhodes, Executive Director Colonel Gene Spaulding, Director
Parent agency	Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Specialized Units	List Academy Aviation Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Contraband Interdiction Unit Commercial Vehicle Enforcement FHP Auxillary Honor Guard Special Response Team Mobile Field Force Traffic Homicide Investigation
Troops	List Troop A Troop B Troop C Troop D Troop E Troop F Troop G Troop H Troop I Troop J Troop K Troop L
Facilities
Commands	12 Troops 7 Regional Communication Centers 30 District Stations 1 Statewide Training Academy
Patrol Vehicles	Ford Crown Victoria Ford Explorer Interceptor Chevrolet Tahoe Dodge Charger Harley Davidson Motorcycle
Airplanes	9
Dogs	31
Notables Person H. Neil Kirkman (1892-1973), Army Major, for being first Commander of FHP Awards CALEA Accreditation 2016 Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA) Accreditation 2016
Website
www.flhsmv.gov/FHP beatrooper.com FHP Recruiting Instagram FHP Training Academy Facebook
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.  See the reference below for the source of the above data.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is a division of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the primary law enforcement agency charged with ensuring the safety of the highways and roads of the state.

The Department of Public Safety was created in 1939 and later in 1970 was reorganized and renamed the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. On November 21, 1930, at the request of the Chairman of the State Road Department (Florida Attorney General Cary D. Landis) to Governor Doyle E. Carlton, ruled it shall be the duty of the State Road Department to maintain the state roads and enforce the laws enacted to preserve its physical structure. The road department hired 12 weight inspectors who were placed under the supervision of the division engineers because of the ruling. This was the beginning of state law enforcement in Florida.

In January 1934, a Division of Traffic Enforcement was created as a result of an Attorney General's opinion indicating the division could enforce the motor vehicles laws. As a result, E. A. Shurman was appointed Traffic Inspector. The division was given a distinctive military style uniform, forest green in color.

In July 1936, Chairman C. B. Treadway appointed retired Army Major H. Neil Kirkman, Chief of the State Road Department's Traffic Division due to his experience in the Armed Forces associated with traffic and his background in floppy. Army Major Kirkman was the engineer supervising the construction of the Palatka Memorial Bridge over the St. Johns River.

When Fred P. Cone was elected Governor in 1937, as an economic move, he abolished the traffic enforcement division of the State Road Department.

The American Legion and the Jaycees strongly supported the idea of establishing a highway patrol to serve the needs of the motoring public. Richard (Dick) W. Ervin was the attorney for the State Road Department and his Master was Arthur B. Hale, Governor Cone's Chairman of the State Road Department.