TheTexas State Police (TSP) is a defunct 19th century law enforcement agency that was created following theCivil War by order ofTexas GovernorEdmund J. Davis. The TSP worked primarily against racially based crimes inTexas, and included black policemen. It was replaced by a renewedTexas Rangers force in 1873.
The Texas State Police was formed during the administration of Governor Davis on July 22, 1870, to combat crime during theReconstruction Era of the United States. Davis also created theTexas Special Police,State Guard of Texas, and the Texas Reserve Militia, which was the forerunner of theTexas National Guard.[citation needed]
Among Texas State Police members wereCaptainJack Helm ofDeWitt County, Texas—later murdered byJohn Wesley Hardin andJim Taylor during theSutton–Taylor feud. Another notable member wasLeander H. McNelly of the Texas Ranger's "Special Force" division.[1]
Despite the success of the Texas State Police, the fact that the organization was controlled by Governor Davis and employedAfrican Americans made it very unpopular, especially with former slave owners.
In September 1870, local citizens ofHill County, Texas refused to cooperate with the TSP in moving against the Kinch West gang; and in December 1870 Hill County citizens blocked the TSP from arresting the killers of afreedmen couple.[2]
Some state police members certainly deserved criticism. Captain Helm, for instance, was accused of murdering prisoners; he was fired, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Others committed crimes for which the charges were dropped as soon as headquarters was advised. James Davidson, the chief of the state police, embezzled $37,435 and disappeared in 1872.[2][3]
On April 22, 1873, the law authorizing the state police was repealed. Former policeman Leander H. McNelly and at least 36 other state police members then became officers in the reincarnated Texas Rangers force.[1]
Ten members of the TSP are known to have been killed in the line of duty:{ODMP record}.[4]In five separate incidents six members of the TSP were killed and two wounded. Likewise, two former TSP members were killed as law officers:
The Texas State Police was disbanded on April 22, 1873. In 1935, theTexas Department of Public Safety was formed to serve as one of the several state police forces (the TDPS predecessor was theTexas Ranger Division formed by the Texas Legislature as McNelly's "Special Force of Rangers" and the "Frontier Battalion" in July 1874).[citation needed]
Other state agencies, including the Texas Attorney General's Office,Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and theTexas Alcoholic Beverage Commission identify as state police yet providestate police services within their areas of responsibility, and informally use the term "State Police" on their uniforms and insignia.[6][7]
