Tennessee Highway Patrol

The Tennessee Highway Patrol came into existence on December 14, 1929, to replace the unpopular Tennessee State Police Force, which had been created in 1926 and had been patterned after the Texas Rangers to obtain fees and taxes from citizens.[3][4] In 1957, the Tennessee Highway Patrol became the first police agency in the United States to utilize helicopters in patrol work.[4]

The head of the Tennessee Highway Patrol is Colonel Matt Perry, who has served with the organization since 2004 and has served as the head of Tennessee Highway Patrol since December 2020.[5][6] The THP is headquartered in Nashville, the state capital. The agency's field operations are organized geographically into eight districts, each with a district headquarters and a varying number of troops (stations that are usually grouped with adjacent counties). As of September 2007, the Tennessee Highway Patrol was authorized to have up to 947 commissioned troopers.[7]

The Tennessee Highway Patrol operates six inspection sites around the state, in Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. The Tennessee Highway Patrol's enforcement activities at the inspection sites, also called scale complexes, include inspections of commercial vehicles and driver logs, highway patrols with a focus on traffic violations by trucks, and weighing of commercial vehicles, both at permanent inspection stations on Interstate highways and with portable scales.[8]

A Chevrolet Caprice in THP service

The design of the shoulder patch of the THP is unique, as it is the only State Police shoulder patch to identify the admittance of the state into the Union. Tennessee was the 16th state admitted in the Union; therefore the shoulder patch has a Roman numeral 16 displayed on it.

The uniform of the THP consists of a tan uniform shirt with forest green epaulets and pocket flaps. Long sleeves with a forest green tie is worn during the winter months while short sleeves with an open collar is worn during the summer months. Collar ornaments that have the letters "T.H.P" are worn on the collars of both seasonal uniform shirts. The uniform pant is forest green with a wide black stripe. The uniform hat is a forest green campaign style hat. A felt version is worn with the winter uniform while a straw version is worn with the summer uniform. A miniaturized version of the breast badge is worn as a hat badge while higher ranks display their insignia of rank on the uniform hat. A silver or gold (Depending on Rank) cord with acorns is worn at the base of the hat.

The THP utilizes a unique duty belt. Instead of the standard 2+1⁄4-inch-wide (5.7 cm) duty belt worn by most agencies, the THP utilizes a 3-inch-wide (7.6 cm) clarino (Patent High Gloss) leather duty belt, creating a distinctive look. All other accessories on the belt are also clarino and feature hidden snap closures. The belt buckle is silver for troopers and gold for higher ranks.

The issued sidearm for THP Troopers is the Glock Model 45 chambered in 9x19mm. Also THP troopers wear bulletproof vests under their uniform shirt. Less lethal weapons issued to troopers include OC Pepper Spray and the Expandable Straight Baton.Troopers are also issued the Glock model 43x as a backup weapon. In 2023, the Tennessee Highway Patrol began fielding the Axon Taser X7 for duty use.

Since the organization was established, 42 members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol have died in the line of duty.[18]

• List of law enforcement agencies in Tennessee
• State police
• State patrol
• Highway patrol

• Tennessee Highway Patrol