page_title: Texas Highway Patrol
section_title: Organization
hierarchical_section_title: Texas Highway Patrol / Organization
caption_attribution_description: English: Texas Highway Patrol divisions map
context_page_description: The Texas Highway Patrol is a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety and is the largest state-level law enforcement agency in the U.S. state of Texas. The patrol's primary duties are enforcement of state traffic laws and commercial vehicle regulation, but it is a fully empowered police agency with authority to enforce criminal law anywhere in the state. Highway patrol troopers are also responsible for patrolling the state Capitol Complex in Austin and providing security to the governor. The current Chief is Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Mathis.
  The highway patrol was founded in 1929 as the Highway Motor Patrol, the first statewide law enforcement agency in Texas since the establishment of the Texas Rangers in 1823, and the first such force to be uniformed and regularly trained. Since 1935, the agency has operated under its current name. Since its inception with just 60 officers, then known as "inspectors", the Texas Highway Patrol has grown to meet the increasing volume of vehicular traffic on Texas roads, modern security threats, and the requirements of twenty-first century policing, currently employing over 2,800 sworn troopers.
context_section_description: In 2013, the Texas Highway Patrol was divided into seven regions and nineteen districts.
  Region I: Dallas
  District A: Dallas
  District B: Tyler
  District C: Mount Pleasant
  District D: Hurst
  Region II: Houston
  District A: Houston
  District B: Beaumont
  District C: Conroe
  District D: Bryan
  Region III: McAllen
  District A: Weslaco
  District B: Laredo
  District C: Corpus Christi
  District  D: McAllen
  Region IV: El Paso
  District A: Midland
  District B: El Paso
  Region V: Lubbock
  District A: Lubbock
  District B: Amarillo
  District C: Abilene
  Region VI: San Antonio
  District A: San Antonio
  District B: Austin
  District C: Waco
  Region VII: Austin
  Note: Region VII is a special region which serves as security for the Capitol Complex, Governor's Mansion, and Governor of Texas.
  Further division is complex. Districts are divided into two or three sub-districts, each overseen by one or more lieutenants. These are then divided even further into patrol areas encompassing one or two counties, depending on size and population; troopers are assigned to specific counties. Sergeants are responsible for these patrol areas. Captains oversee districts, and majors oversee regions.
  The Texas DPS's subdivision maps vary between service divisions, making for overlapping jurisdictional maps. The highway patrol, Texas Rangers, and Criminal Investigations divisions' jurisdictions, for example, do not coincide with one another. Further complicating matters, the DPS administrative division has its own subdivisional map. Even nomenclature used to describe jurisdiction varies—the highway patrol uses "regions" identified by numbers, while the Texas Rangers use "companies" identified by letters.
caption: THP regions and districts
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