South Dakota Highway Patrol
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is the South Dakota state police force within the state police force . It is responsible for the entire state territory of South Dakota, unless other police units have been given jurisdiction . Since the counties have their own sheriff's offices and many cities and towns have their own armed police units, the state police are relatively small compared to other countries. The South Dakota Highway Patrol consists of 154 officers and 75 employees. The police unit is responsible for 199,730 km² of land and approx. 800,000 inhabitants.
Further exceptions to the jurisdiction are all federal institutions, such as the two national parks in South Dakota, the National Monuments and, above all, Indian reservations . Whether the police unit is responsible for the extensive tribal areas outside the reserves has been a matter of dispute for many years.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol was founded in 1935 and is responsible not only for road traffic, but for monitoring compliance with all state laws. She works closely with the local sheriff's offices and the local police authorities. In contrast, the relationship with the various Indian police units of the reservation governments is considered difficult.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is subordinate to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety , which also maintains a criminal investigation department. The police unit is stationed in the capital, Pierre . There she also operates a small flying unit, called the Aviation Section, with a Bell OH-58 C Kiowa helicopter from US Army stocks and a Cessna T206 , a six-seat single-engine light aircraft . The South Dakota Highway Patrol also operates several SWAT teams in cooperation with the responsible community police units, and is responsible for securing facilities in the state of South Dakota, such as B. of Congress and the Governor.