Who Are The Texas “State Police”?

[ccharles000]

This is very odd. Look at the photo taken during Saturday night’s raid on the Rainbow Lounge in Ft. Worth on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion. See the armed men in uniform with the words “State Police” emblazoned on the back?

According to news reports, the raid was conducted by the Ft. Worth Police Department with agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). Texas doesn’t have a “state police.” The highway patrol, run by the Department of Public Safety, is known coloquially as the DPS (i.e. “DPS officers were on the scene…”). The state’s investigative arm is the Texas Rangers, but they generally don’t get involved with cases like this.

So without trying to feed any conspiracy theories, I still have to ask: who are the “State Police” in the photo? Are they TABC agents? If so, why wouldn’t their uniforms identify them as such? Any Texas readers have an answer?

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/06/29/12659#comments

[WolverineDG]

1. I would think they were part of DPS

but they're called "Troopers."

dg

[CrownPrinceBandar]

2. DPS..............

Department of Public Safety. I believe they are considered "state police" in TX. At least that's what it said on the last ticket I got in Austin.

[Flaneur]

3. It looks like they are DPS

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/trainingacademy/Trooper_Trainee/traineelinks.htm

Become a Texas State Trooper
The Texas State Police will be recruiting Michigan job seekers to fill 300+ Texas State Trooper Positions. Testing will be scheduled for Tuesday June 8, 2009 through Thursday June 11, 2009 at the Tower Center Mall 15400 Grand River Ave. (at Greenfield) Detroit, MI 48227. The testing will be conducted on the following days and times;

[WolverineDG]

8. But those aren't DPS uniforms

& they would be called "Troopers," not "State Police." You don't even call them "Officer" when pulled over; they will correct you. ;)

dg

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Every state I've ever been in has a state police.

Nothing odd about this.

[ccharles000]

5. oh ok

you learn new things everyday

[Ganja Ninja]

7. In most states the State Police are the ones patrolling the freeways

the state roads and the roads designated US (example US1 in FL) They aren't necessarily the only ones, county or local police will also patrol those roads in their jurisdiction. State police are generally referred to as state troopers.

[Lithos]

6. TABC

They were from the TABC, Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission. Several of the State agencies with law enforcement capabilities generically describe themselves as state police.

For confirmation of this w/r to the Rainbow Lounge raid:

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/fort-worth-police-identify-off.html

On Sunday morning, June 28, 2009, at 12:30 a.m., six (6) Fort Worth Police Officers, two (2) TABC agents and a Fort Worth supervisor conducted inspections at 160 W Rosedale (Rosedale Saloon and Cowboy Palace). This inspection resulted in nine (9) arrests. Once the inspection was completed at these locations, officers proceeded to the Rainbow Lounge.

[tomreedtoon]

9. I thought Texas called its state police "the Rangers."

Remember the open of "Highway Patrol"?

"Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a duly authorized organization swings into action. It may be called the State Police, State Troopers, Militia, the Rangers, the Pigs, the Fuzz, the Heat, the Klingons... or the Highway Patrol."

(Actually, that's Dan Aykroyd's version, from Saturday Night Live. But you get the point.)

[ThirdWorldJohn]

11. Texas rangers are actually made up of elite DPS officers. During Reconstruction

the federal government disbanded the Texas Rangers and replaced them for a few years with a Texas State Police unit that were pretty much a bunch of criminals but that is just a side note to this thread.

[WolverineDG]

14. No, they're called "DPS"

like the other poster said, the Rangers are the elite squad of DPS, who are called Troopers, not Officers.

(I don't know what the big dif is, just that DPS troopers get really shirty if you call them "Officer")

dg

[ThirdWorldJohn]

10. I once had a convertsation with a campus cop at a state college and he told me

that he was a state police officer as all (state) college cops in Texas were. I also have since found out that Texas Parks and Wildlife has its own law enforcement division. Probably many other state agencies do as well. I am sure that the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission is responsible for the officers wearing the Texas State Police shirts.

[hamsterjill]

12. Never seen this before either

I'm sure the shirt is inconsequential because it would be the badge, not the shirt, that conferred authority, but I agree with you. We don't have state police in Texas that I know of, and I've lived here all of my life. We have DPS.

[Joe Fields]

13. hmmmm....where are their jackboots? aren't they out of uniform?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. This was posted elsewhere. Its a press release from Ft Worth PD

Like all PR pieces, its has some spin to it. However, it identifies TABC and FWPD as the participants.
http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-rainbow-lounge-fwpd-statement-story,0,1536646.story
There are also couple of links there that are worth looking at as well.

What a lot of people do not realize is that there is a growing anti bar movement in the DFW area from neighbors. This was a new bar and last weekend being the anniversary of Stonewall, it could well have been more raucous than normal. The ones I went to certainly were. I suggest that we not get too excited until its clear the action was anti gay and not just anti bar or anti noise. If it is anti gay, then lets crush them...