Louisiana State Police

About Louisiana State Police

The Louisiana State Police (French: La Police d'État de la Louisianne) is the state police department of Louisiana, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. It was created to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of people in Louisiana. It falls under the authority of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is officially known in that organization as the Office of State Police. The badge worn by its troopers is very distinctive in that it is shaped like the map of the state of Louisiana. The Louisiana State Police is a premier law enforcement agency in Louisiana and has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) since 2003.

The Louisiana Sate Police has a long and proud history. The organization began in 1922 as the Louisiana Highway Commission with 16 Highway Inspectors covering approximately 2,700 miles of roadway. In 1928 the agency was known as the Law Enforcement Division of the Highway Commission, and employed 70 uniformed officers. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation was also formed about that time. In 1932 the State Highway Patrol was given the authority to carry firearms. In 1936, the two divisions of law enforcement were combined to form the Louisiana Department of State Police. In 1942 the Louisiana Legislature abolished the Department of State Police and made it a division of the newly created Department of Public Safety. The State Police accepted new responsibilities in 1946 when the Drivers License Law was enacted requiring every driver to hold a license for operating a motor vehicle. Prior to this time, only the operators of commercial vehicles, trucks, and buses were required to be licensed in Louisiana. The agency continued to make advancements with the current number of troopers employed by the department listed as 1,022.

The department is divided up into nine troops, with its headquarters in Baton Rouge. The troops are divided as follows: