At this time, the OSHP also became responsible for all driving tests, which a new driver had to take to prove that he or she was competent to drive a motor vehicle. The OSHP now had responsibility over all Ohio roadways except for those in municipalities. That same year, the OSHP began to patrol additional routes besides state highways. In 1941, the Ohio legislature authorized three hundred patrolmen. In response to the OSHP’s early success, the Ohio legislature increased the number of patrolmen to 120 in 1935. The OSHP also cited more than 120,000 drivers and made 4,233 arrests. For the time, it was the most comprehensive radio system in the United States. During its first year of existence, the OSHP accomplished much.įirst, the OSHP succeeded in creating a statewide radio network, allowing law enforcement officials to communicate with each other across Ohio. The first patrol officers rode motorcycles, including in the dead of winter, to enforce the law. The district offices were in Toledo, Ravenna, Sidney, Delaware, Cambridge, and Chillicothe, while the substations were located in private homes across the district. The OSHP established six district offices across Ohio, with three OSHP substations in each district. More than five thousand men applied to be one of the first sixty officers. The officers had to be between twenty-four and forty years of age. Initially, the OSHP consisted of sixty officers. A provision of the bill explicitly banned the OSHP from policing strikes and other forms of labor unrest.

The legislation creating the OSHP limited the patrolmen to enforcing motor vehicle laws on Ohio’s roads. Finally, in 1933, the Ohio government created this statewide police force, which is known as the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP). Many people, especially members of labor unions, opposed these bills, fearing that the Ohio government would use this police force to end strikes. Since 1917, various members of the Ohio legislature had introduced bills to create a statewide police force.

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