The Texas Rangers

Formally they are the: Texas Ranger Division, but they are commonly known as the Texas Rangers, this law enforcement group is an agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, there headquarters are located in the states capital, Austin. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted as riot police and detectives; they have protected the Governor of Texas, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a military like force in the service for both the Republic of Texas (1836–45) as well as the state of Texas.

They are the oldest state wide law enforcement agency in the United States. Some historians consider the future Republic's first Secretary of State, Stephen Austin’s “call to arms” statement which was written in 1823, as being the origin of the law enforcement agency.  Austin (also considered the father of Texas) recognized the need for a body of men to protect his fledgling colony. So on August 5, 1823, he wrote that he would: “...employ ten men...to act as rangers for the common defense.” These men would ‘range’ the area of Austin's colony, protecting settlers from bandits and Indians.

Others insist the Ranger origin to be 1835; the movement for Texas independence was about to explode, so, a council of local government representatives established a “Corps of Rangers” to protect the frontier from Indians and such. These Rangers were paid $1.25 a day and were permitted to elect their own leaders but they were required to furnished their own guns, horses, and other necessary equipment.

The next year (1836), when Texas declared its independence from Mexico, some Rangers took part in the fighting, but the majority served as scouts.

Following independence from Mexico, the debt-ridden nation then called the Republic of Texas soon learned that ranger companies were the least expensive way to protect the frontier from Indians and Mexican ‘bandit’ attacks into the Texas side of the Rio Grande. During this time period, ranger legends such as Jack Hays, Ben McCulloch, Samuel Walker and "Bigfoot" Wallace first established their ‘larger than life’ reputations as frontier fighters.

Annexation into the Union was followed by the U S war with Mexico; here the experience of the rangers as scouts gained them worldwide respect. They were initially used to scout the most practical routes for the American army. Later, because of their often deadly effectiveness against Mexican guerrillas, they became known by the natives in the region as “los diablos Tejanos” which is Spanish for "the Texas Devils."

By 1874, the Texas legislature concluded that crime was on the rise, therefore they decided to reestablish order by forming two groups of Rangers: the 'Special Force' of Rangers and the 'Frontier Battalion'. These two groups “cleared out” more than 3,000 Texas out-laws; including bank robber Sam Bass and the notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, among many others.

Although over the years the nature of the Rangers  changed, as they have entered the twentieth century, there was still a need for seasoned and highly trained officers to handle the state's toughest law enforcement cases. Therefore, in 1935, the Rangers became an elite force within the Texas Department of Public Safety, here they continue today as the state's highly trained officers for maintaining law and order within the state of Texas in the twenty-first century.

Sources …                                                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Ranger_Division   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Ranger_Hall_of_Fame_and_Museum http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/rangers.htm