Kansas Highway Patrol
| Kansas Highway Patrol | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | KHP |
Patch of the Kansas Highway Patrol
|
|
Logo of the Kansas Highway Patrol
|
|
Badge of the Kansas Highway Patrol
|
|
| Motto | Service · Courtesy · Protection |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1937 |
| Preceding agency | Kansas Motor Vehicle Inspectors |
| Employees | 840 (as of 2004) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of Kansas, US |
 |
|
| Kansas Highway Patrol Troop Map | |
| Size | 82,277 square miles (213,100 km2) |
| Population | 2,775,997 (2007 est.) |
| General nature |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Topeka, Kansas |
| Troopers | 541 (as of 2004) |
| Civilians | 299 (as of 2004) |
| Agency executive | Colonel Mark Bruce, Superintendent |
| Child agency | Kansas Capitol Police |
| Facilities | |
| Troops | 15 |
| Website | |
| www |
|
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Kansas Highway Patrol is a law-enforcement agency that serves the state of Kansas. While the Patrol's primary focus is maintaining the safety of State, Federal and Interstate highways, it also is charged with providing support for rural and small municipal police departments when tactical, aerial or other specialized services are needed. The Kansas Highway Patrol has statewide jurisdiction, and frequently assists other agencies with emergency calls for service ranging from accidents to fights in progress.
In 1933, the Kansas Legislature, Governor Alfred Landon, and Highway Department Attorney Wint Smith acted to halt the rampant bank robberies and crime sprees of the 1920s and 1930s. They created a force of ten motor vehicle inspectors, forerunners of Kansas troopers.
The Legislature officially organized the Kansas Highway Patrol in 1937. A superintendent, assistant superintendent, and 45 troopers were hired to reduce crashes by enforcing traffic, vehicle, and license laws. Kansas City Police Department veteran Jack B. Jenkins was the first superintendent.
The governor appointed the superintendent, and the superintendent appointed the rest. All appointees had to pass a physical exam and be U.S. citizens, at least 24 years old, of good health and moral character, and without a criminal record. The 1941 Kansas Civil Service Law affected appointment procedures, but as late as 1945, half the appointees had to belong to the governor's political party, and the other half had to come from the party that placed second in the gubernatorial race.
In the 1950s, the Patrol began to police the turnpike for the Kansas Turnpike Authority, and Protective Services began with one trooper providing the governor's ground transportation. The recruit school moved from the Kansas State Reformatory in Hutchinson to the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Increasingly, troopers patrolled alone. Before, they always rode in pairs.
In the 1960s, each trooper was assigned a patrol car to improve roadway coverage, and access to the Law Enforcement Teletype System and National Crime Information Center improved the Patrol's communications. The first promotional examinations were given, and the deactivated Schilling Air Force Base in Salina became the Patrol's Training Center. Also, the Motor Vehicle Department began examining license applicants, releasing trooper-examiners for other duties.
...
Wikipedia