The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOS), also known as the Tennessee Department of Safety or DOS, is a

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

serving the U.S. state of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. The TDOS is made up of three main divisions: the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), the Tennessee Driver License Services division, and the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security.

History

The TDOS was established in 1939 by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

to exercise authority over the THP. Over the decades, the agency has evolved to meet new challenges, such as

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

, the issuance of drivers' licenses, and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. Therefore, the TDOS currently comprises three divisions: the THP, the Driver License Services division, and the state Office of Homeland Security (OHS). The current commissioner of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security is Jeff Long, who has been serving since January 2019 after being appointed by Governor Bill Lee. He is assisted by deputy and assistant commissioners, including the director of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Col. Matt Perry.

Functions

The TDOS manages the THP, OHS, and the Driver License Services division. The THP is the highway patrol agency for Tennessee, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. The Office of Homeland Security was created in April 2003 by an executive order by then-Governor

Phil Bredesen Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (; born November 21, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected in ...

in the aftermath of

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. The Driver License Services division issues various kinds of identification cards, including hardship licenses for minors, graduated drivers licenses, regular driver licenses, commercial driver licenses, and state identification cards. In addition to the above functions, the TDOS has issued handgun permits through the THP since October 1996, assuming the role previously taken by local sheriffs' offices.

Commissioners

References

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Safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

State agencies of Tennessee 1930 establishments in Tennessee State departments of homeland security of the United States