The Alabama Department of Public Safety is the uniform section of the

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, abbreviated as "ALEA", is a law enforcement agency serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It exists within the Executive Branch of State Government to coordinate public safety in Alabama.Ala. Code 1975, § 41-27-1 I ...

, serving the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. It is made up of three divisions: Highway Patrol Division, Marine Patrol Division, and Drivers' License Division.

History

The Alabama Department of Public Safety began as the Alabama Highway Patrol on December 5, 1935. The Highway Patrol was renamed the Department of Public Safety on March 8, 1939, and then included 4 divisions: Highway Patrol, Driver License, Accident Prevention Bureau, and Mechanical and Equipment. On January 17, 2011, Hugh B. McCall was appointed to the position of Colonel of the Alabama Department of Public Safety by Governor Robert J. Bentley, making him the first African-American to head the agency. In 2013 the state's law enforcement agencies were streamlined into the

Organization

The Department of Public Safety is headed by a director appointed by the

Governor of Alabama A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

who is the executive officer of the department and holds the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. The director is aided in managing the department by an assistant director, who is also appointed by the governor and who holds the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Each of the department's three divisions are headed by uniformed officers with the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. *Driver License Division **Drive License Examining Unit **Drive Records Unit **License Reinstatement Unit **Safety Responsibility Unit *Alabama Highway Patrol Division **Career Development and Training Office ** Motor Carrier Safety Unit **Traffic Homicide Investigations Office **Division Programs Office **Patrol Operations ***Alexander City Post ***Birmingham Post ***Decatur Post ***Dothan Post ***Eufaula Field Office ***Evergreen Post ***Gadsden Post ***Grove Hill Field Office ***Hamilton Post ***Huntsville Post ***Jacksonville Post ***Mobile Post ***Montgomery Post ***Opelika Post ***Quad Cities Post ***Selma Post ***Troy Post ***Tuscaloosa Post –

Highway Patrol

The Alabama Highway Patrol is a division of the Alabama Department of Public Safety and is the highway patrol agency for Alabama, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. It was created to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of people in Alabama. In 1971, the Alabama Highway Patrol became the first U.S. police organization to use downsized vehicles for regular highway patrol duties when they purchased 132

AMC Javelin The AMC Javelin is an American front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-door hardtop automobile manufactured by American Motors Corporation (AMC) across two generations, 1968 through 1970 and 1971 through 1974 model years. The car was positioned an ...

s. This pre-dated, among others, the Camaros and Mustangs used by other departments years later.

Marine Patrol

The Alabama Marine Patrol Division is responsible for law enforcement on the waterways of Alabama. The mission of the Division is to "enhance safety and promote responsible use of resources on Alabama's waterways through enforcement, education, and community activities". The Division patrols the waterways of the state, oversees pleasure boats registration and boat operators licensing, and provides education to boaters, and also maintains 1,518 waterway markings (

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

s). The Division operates from three districts: Northern, which includes the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Coosa, and Black Warrior Rivers; Central, which includes the Coosa, Tallapoosa,

, Tombigbee, and

Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...

Rivers; and Southern, which includes the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers,

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The ...

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, and other rivers and lakes.

Rank structure

The Alabama Department of Public Safety rank structure is as listed:

Fallen officers

There have been 29 Alabama State Troopers killed in the line of duty since its beginning in 1935. Since 1935, the Alabama State Troopers have had one Trooper killed in the military.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084317/http://dps.alabama.gov/Home/Default.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama Department Of Public Safety State law enforcement agencies of Alabama Government agencies established in 1935 State Bureaus of Investigation 1935 establishments in Alabama