Profile: State of Arizona Department of Public Safety

Mission Statement        

To protect human life and property by enforcing state laws, deterring criminal activity, ensuring highway and public safety, and providing vital scientific, technical, and operational support to other criminal justice agencies. 

Vision Statement

To be a national model in providing ethical, effective, efficient and customer-oriented, state level law enforcement services.

Pursuant to legislation in 1968, the Arizona Department of Public Safety was established by the executive order of Governor Jack Williams on July 1, 1969. This mandate consolidated the functions and responsibilities of the Arizona Highway Patrol, the Law Enforcement Division of the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control and the Narcotics Division of the state Department of Law.

In its 30-plus years of sustained progress and service, the Department has accepted many additional responsibilities and has become a multi-faceted organization dedicated to protecting and providing state-level law enforcement services to the public while developing and maintaining close partnerships with other agencies sharing similar missions.

The Department consists of four divisions - Highway Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Agency Support and Criminal Justice Support. Together these four divisions provide an immense and extensive range of vital scientific, technical, operational and regulatory services to Arizona residents and to the state's criminal justice community. The Arizona Department of Public Safety, with state headquarters in Phoenix, has offices located in more than 30 communities within Arizona's 15 counties.