Kentucky State Police

The Kentucky State Police (KSP) is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The department was founded in 1948 and replaced the Kentucky Highway Patrol. The department's officers are called troopers and its nickname is The Thin Gray Line.

History
In 1948, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the State Police Act, creating the Kentucky State Police force, and making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state. The act was signed July 1 of that year by Governor Earle C. Clements. The force was an outgrowth of the Kentucky Highway Patrol, and inherited the equipment and officers from that organization. Guthrie F. Crowe served as the force's first commissioner.

Posts
The Kentucky State Police operate from 16 regional posts:


 * Post 1: Mayfield
 * Post 2: Nortonville
 * Post 3: Bowling Green
 * Post 4: Elizabethtown
 * Post 5: Campbellsburg
 * Post 6: Dry Ridge
 * Post 7: Richmond
 * Post 8: Morehead
 * Post 9: Pikeville
 * Post 10: Harlan
 * Post 11: London
 * Post 12: Frankfort
 * Post 13: Hazard
 * Post 14: Ashland
 * Post 15: Columbia
 * Post 16: Henderson

In addition, the KSP operates the state's system of regional crime labs and is responsible for protecting the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, members of the Kentucky General Assembly and state property, including the Kentucky State Capitol Complex. On July 14, 2008, the Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement department, which is responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement, became a division of the KSP. The department's headquarters and training academy are located in Frankfort. The department also operates Trooper Island Camp, a juvenile crime prevention program at Dale Hollow Lake State Park.

== Demographics ==
 * Male: 97%
 * Female: 3%


 * White: 96%
 * African-American/Black: 3%
 * Asian: 1%

In popular culture

 * The alternate-timeline historical fiction author Harry Turtledove has used a fictionalized Kentucky State Police as a plot device in his Timeline-191 series.
 * The Kentucky State Police was featured throughout the 1998 movie U.S. Marshals which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey, Jr. and Joe Pantoliano.
 * The Kentucky State Police was featured as the agency conducting the investigation into the death of an EPA agent in the 1997 movie Fire Down Below starring Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton, and Levon Helm.

Contact Information
919 Versailles Road Frankfort KY 40601 Phone: (502) 695-6300