• 
Plus Many More ++ 
State Level: State police work for a state. For example, in Oregon, the state police work for the state of 
Oregon and the department is Oregon State Police (OSP). In Nevada, the state police are Nevada Highway 
Patrol (NHP) and work for the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The commissioned (certified by the 
state with powers of arrest) employees are generally called troopers (a.k.a. police officers), their uniform 
is blue (except for California Highway Patrol who wear tan and dark brown uniforms), they wear round 
tipped hats, and their primary duty is to patrol the highways and interstates; however, many state police 
also investigate many different criminal crimes, run criminal forensic labs, along with divisions of fish and 
wildlife. The duties of each state agency are different and unique to each state. For example, OSP has an 
explosives unit (see photo below). 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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