Tennessee Highway Patrol
| Tennessee Highway Patrol | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | THP |
Patch of the Tennessee Highway Patrol
|
|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | December 14, 1929 |
| Preceding agency | Tennessee State Police Force (1926–1929) |
| Employees | 1,869 (as of 2004) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of Tennessee, USA |
| Size | 42,169 square miles (109,220 km2) |
| Population | 6,156,719 (2007 est.) |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
| State Troopers | 972 (as of 2004) |
| Civilians | 897 (as of 2004) |
| Agency executive | Tracy Trott, Colonel |
| Parent agency | Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security |
| Districts | 8 |
| Website | |
| http://tn.gov/safety/thp.htm | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) is the highway patrol agency and de facto state police organization for the U.S. state of Tennessee, responsible for enforcing all federal and state laws relating to traffic on the state's federal and state highways. The agency was created to protect the lives, property, and constitutional rights of people in Tennessee. The THP is a division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol provides assistance to motorists who need help. It investigates traffic accidents involving property damage, personal injury, or death. The agency works with prosecutors in the prosecution of cases in which the use of drugs or alcohol contributed to accidents causing personal injury or fatalities. In addition to traffic law enforcement, the Tennessee Highway Patrol has responsibility in criminal interdiction, which involves the suppression of narcotics on the state's roads and highways, including Interstate Highways. It is the agency responsible for conducting background checks on applicants for permits to carry handguns.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol came into existence on December 14, 1929, to replace the unpopular Tennessee State Police Force, which had been created in 1926 and had been patterned after the Texas Rangers to obtain fees and taxes from citizens. In 1957, the Tennessee Highway Patrol became the first police agency in the United States to utilize helicopters in patrol work.
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