Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
 |
|
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 20, 1937 |
| Headquarters | 3600 N Martin Luther King Avenue Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Employees | 1,664 (FY11) |
| Annual budget | $211 million (FY11) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
|
| Child agencies |
|
| Website | www.dps.state.ok.us |
The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (ODPS) is a department of the government of Oklahoma. Under the supervision of the Oklahoma Secretary of Safety and Security, DPS provides for the safety of Oklahomans and the administration of justice in the state. DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement, vehicle regulation, homeland security and such other duties as the Governor of Oklahoma may proscribe. DPS has the duty to provide for the protection and security of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
The Department is led by the Commissioner of Public Safety. The Commissioner is appointed by the Governor of Oklahoma, with the approval of the Oklahoma Senate, to serve at his pleasure. The current Commissioner is Michael C. Thompson, who was appointed by Governor Mary Fallin on January 10, 2011.
The Department of Public Safety was created during the term of Governor E. W. Marland.
The Public Safety Department is designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the Oklahoma according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Oklahomans. The Department provides safety and security for Oklahoma's citizens through law enforcement and protection with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The Department of Public Safety traces its history almost as far back as statehood.
In 1912, there were only sixty-five hundred automobiles in the entire state. But by 1929, over 600,000 vehicles were being driven up and down state roads. Oklahoma had become a state on wheels, although the roads those wheels were rolling over were designed for horse and buggy travel. One clear indication of the arrival of the automobile age in Oklahoma was the shocking number of people killed in vehicular accidents - about five hundred a year by the mid-1920s.
The automobile also brought many of the nation's most infamous criminals into Oklahoma's borders. By the 1930s, Oklahoma became a criminal haven in much the same fashion as it was in its days as Indian Territory. The odds were stacked in the favor of the criminals as once across the county line, they were beyond the reach of local authorities. Criminals soon discovered that the same system of law enforcement that was powerless to halt the rising tide of traffic fatalities was equally inept at stopping them.
...
Wikipedia