Ohio State Highway Patrol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is the traffic enforcement agency for the State of Ohio and a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. The commander of the Patrol holds the rank of Colonel and is referred to as the Superintendent. The superintendent is selected from the Patrol ranks upon the retirement or death of a predecessor.

Although personnel strength varies, the Patrol maintains a uniformed complement of about 1,400 officers. In addition, about 1,000 support personnel, including driver examiners, load limit inspectors, motor vehicle inspectors, motor carrier enforcement inspectors, dispatchers, electronics technicians, and civilian specialists complete the Patrol's personnel strength. An all-volunteer auxiliary force, originally formed during World War II to assist officers after many entered the armed services, continues to donate thousands of hours of service to the citizens of Ohio.

Patrol General Headquarters is located in Columbus. The state is subdivided into 10 districts, with seven districts containing six posts, two districts containing five posts, and a regional headquarters which is (in eight of the nine districts) located at one of the posts. The Ohio Turnpike comprises the 10th district with three posts, administrative offices in Cleveland, and a headquarters in Berea. Each post if responsible for patrolling one or several of Ohio's 88 counties. The department's enlisted members are called Troopers. Each district is commanded by a captain and each post by a lieutenant. Training is conducted at the Patrol Academy, also located in Columbus.

1 History
2 Core Values
3 Duties
4 Department rank structure
5 The OSHP Auxiliary
6 Trivia
7 External links

[edit] History

The Ohio State Highway Patrol was founded in 1933.

[edit] Core Values

The core values of the Highway Patrol are:

Honesty - The single most reliable mark of a trooper’s value is to be able to admit when he/she is wrong and go forward.

Sense of Urgency - Troopers realize the importance of prompt response to crashes and other calls for service.

Attention to Detail - If it is worth doing, it’s worth doing thoroughly. Attention to detail is the mark of a good public servant.

Team Oriented - Members of the Patrol -- and members of the law enforcement community in general -- are a team, of which the individual components are not as valuable as the whole.

Professionalism - Being professional means being punctual, courteous, prepared, and well-groomed. It also means having and showing respect for every person a trooper encounters.

Adaptability - Troopers must maintain flexibility with a high degree of performance. A trooper’s job is never the same from one day to the next -- s/he must be able to make changes and still perform the job to the highest degree.

Self-Discipline - or stated another way, Accountability. Every trooper must recognize what job needs to be done, and then do that job well. Law enforcement officers have a responsibility to those they serve to be accountable for their actions.

Performance Driven - Being performance driven means working hard. Troopers are driven to perform because success is measured in both quantity and quality. We are constantly reminded of our department mission...to save lives, reduce injuries and economic losses on the streets and highways of Ohio.

Officer Safety - This is the final core value that we instill in our troopers. They must maintain a high level of awareness in every situation.

[edit] Duties

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is an internationally accredited agency dedicated to professional law enforcement service. The Patrol provides:

Statewide traffic services to keep our roadways safe.
Statewide emergency services to the public and support to the criminal justice community.
Investigation of criminal activities on state-owned and leased property throughout Ohio
Security for the Governor and other dignitaries.

Routine operations are conducted almost exclusively from automobiles. However, the Patrol also utilizes Jeep Cherokees, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters in the course of its duties. A fully equipped command vehicle, which can operate as a mobile patrol post, is maintained in a constant state of readiness to respond to natural disasters, civil unrest, and other emergencies requiring extended Patrol presence.

During 2004, troopers assisted over 517,000 motorists and investigated more than 82,000 crashes. Over 549,000 traffic arrests were made, including 25,112 for OVI, 100,342 for safety belt restraint violations, and 64,991 commercial vehicle violations. In addition, troopers issued 475,919 warnings.

[edit] Department rank structure

The OSHP uses a paramilitary ranking system, as follows:

Colonel
Lt. Colonel
Major
Captain
Staff Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Trooper

[edit] The OSHP Auxiliary

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Auxiliary is an all-volunteer force which provides assistance to troopers in the course of their duties. Among the duties of an Auxiliary officer are crash scene and traffic stop assistance, traffic control, disaster relief, and special detail support. The OSHP Auxiliary was formed in 1942 when many commissioned troopers began entering the armed forces during World War II. At that time, membership was limited the members of the American Legion which was largely made of up of war veterans who were unlikely to be drafted into service. After the war, the Auxiliary was a critical component of Ohio’s Civil Defense Plan, with officers assigned to vital crossroads to assist with evacuation and convoy movement. Today, Auxiliary members contribute thousands of hours in an assortment of functions.

[edit] Trivia

The department's work sites are called "Posts," much as a local police department's offices are referred to as "stations."

As the Ohio State Highway Patrol was being established in 1933, the responsibility for badge design fell into the hands of Harry Neal, who in turn assigned the task to Mr. Joseph Goldberg, an engineer in Neal's Safety Department. The badge design was partially inspired by a study of others, but the "Flying Wheel" was originally Goldberg's idea. Though he had difficulty selling the flying wheel to Neal (who jokingly asked if they were duck, chicken, or eagle wings), Goldberg had created our symbol. The Flying Wheel, which is a federally registered trademark, is now one of the most distinguishable images of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.