Kentucky State Police

InfoboxPolice
name = Kentucky State Police

motto =
established = 1948
strength = 1,000
jurisdiction = Kentucky
specialunits = Special Operations, West and East Drug Enforcement, Cannibis Suppression, Aircraft Support, Vehicle Investigations, Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement
chief = Rodney Brewer
"Commissioner"

The Kentucky State Police (KSP) is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The department was founded in 1948 and replaced the Kentucky Highway Patrol. The department's officers are called "troopers" and its nickname is "The Thin Gray Line". [cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |title=History of the Kentucky State Police |publisher=Kentucky State Police |accessdate=2007-07-19]

History

In 1948, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the State Police Act, creating the Kentucky State Police force, and making it the 38^th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state. The act was signed July 1 of that year by Governor Earle C. Clements. The force was an outgrowth of the Kentucky Highway Patrol, and inherited the equipment and officers from that organization. [cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |title=History of the Kentucky State Police |publisher=Kentucky State Police |accessdate=2007-02-01] Guthrie F. Crowe served as the force's first commissioner.cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title="The Kentucky Encyclopedia" |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0813117720 |chapter=Kentucky State Police]

Posts

The Kentucky State Police operate from 16 regional posts:cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/post.htm |title=Kentucky State Police Posts |publisher=Kentucky State Police |accessdate=2007-02-01]

*Post 1: Mayfield
*Post 2: Nortonville
*Post 3: Bowling Green
*Post 4: Elizabethtown
*Post 5: Campbellsburg
*Post 6: Dry Ridge
*Post 7: Richmond
*Post 8: Morehead
*Post 9: Pikeville
*Post 10: Harlan
*Post 11: London
*Post 12: Frankfort
*Post 13: Hazard
*Post 14: Ashland
*Post 15: Columbia
*Post 16: HendersonIn addition, the KSP operates the state's system of regional crime labs and is responsible for protecting the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, members of the Kentucky General Assembly and state property, including the Kentucky State Capitol Complex. [cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |title=History of the Kentucky State Police |publisher=Kentucky State Police |accessdate=2007-07-19 ] On July 14, 2008, the Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement department, which is responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement, became a division of the KSP. [ cite web |url=http://www.governor.ky.gov/pressrelease.htm?PostingGUID={D5D89AE0-8945-4CAD-A4D7-2B0D736673C3} |title=Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement to become a division of KSP |publisher=Office of Communications of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky |accessdate=2008-07-20] The department's headquarters and training academy are located in Frankfort. The department also operates Trooper Island Camp, a juvenile crime prevention program at Dale Hollow Lake State Park.

Demographics [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/lemas00.pdf U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics, 2000: Data for Individual State and Local Agencies with 100 or More Officers]

*Male: 97%
*Female: 3%

*White: 96%
*African-American/Black: 3%
*Asian: 1%

In popular culture

*The alternate-timeline historical fiction author Harry Turtledove has used a fictionalized Kentucky State Police as a plot device in his Timeline-191 series.
*The Kentucky State Police was featured throughout the 1998 movie "U.S. Marshals" which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey, Jr. and Joe Pantoliano.

ee also

* List of law enforcement agencies in Kentucky
* State police
* State patrol
* Highway patrol.

References

External links

* [http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org Official Website for the Kentucky State Police]