The department has come a long way since the first State Police Force was created in 1929, patterned after the historic Texas Rangers. The department itself was established by the General Assembly in 1939, a decade after Governor Henry Horton signed a law creating the Tennessee Highway Patrol, an offshoot of the State Police Force. Today, the department and its highly trained state troopers are responsible for safety on more than 87,000 miles of state and federal highways. Numerous other department responsibilities include:

• Issuing driver license
• Investigating crashes
• Conducting school bus and day care van inspections
• Administering forfeitures in DUI and drug cases
• Investigating auto theft, and
• Enforcing commercial vehicle laws and regulations

In 1937, Tennessee became the 32nd state to enact a driver license law. During the first year, 521,571 licenses were issued, while today the number of licensed drivers in Tennessee is 4.1 million.