Highway Patrol - Generic term used to identify police officers who patrol the state highways of America. One of the first programs to feature the State Police was HIGHWAY PATROL/SYN/1955-59 with Broderick Crawford as Chief ("Ten-Four!") Dan Mathews. The program began with a narrator saying: 

  "Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a duly authorized organization swings into action. It may be called the State Police, State Troopers, Militia, the Rangers... or the Highway Patrol. These are the stories of the men whose training, skill and courage have enforced and preserved our state laws."

Another popular series was CHiPS/1977-83. It followed the adventures of two California Highway Patrol officers Jon baker (Larry Wilcox) and Frank "Ponch" Poncherello (Erik Estrada) as they maintained law and order on California freeways while cruising police-issued motorcycles. The latest program to featured the State Police was THE REAL STORIES OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL/SYN/1993 with stories compiled from video tapes taken from vehicle-mounted video recorders while Highway patrol officers did their jobs, chasing down criminals (drink drivers, drug runners and other evaders of the law).