What's It Called In Your State?

This has been building up for a while. Watching a lot of true crime videos, I've noticed that different U.S. states call their criminal investigation agencies different things, and I thought it would be interesting to see how many different variants there are. And that led to other ideas ... there will probably be more installments of this kind of thing.

So, here are the names of state police agencies, by U.S. state:

• Alabama: State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) and the Highway Patrol (AHP)
• Alaska: Bureau of Investigation (ABI) and Alaska State Troopers (AST)
• Arizona: Highway Patrol (AHP) and Criminal Investigations Division (CID)
• Arkansas: Arkansas State Police (ASP) and the Arkansas Highway Police (AHP) (under two separate departments!)
• California: Bureau of Investigation (CBI), among other agencies.
• Colorado: Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Connecticut: Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) Delaware: State Police (DSP) Florida: Bureau of Criminal Investigations and Intelligence (BCII) and Highway Patrol (FHP)
• Georgia: Bureau of Investigation (GBI)
• Hawaii: Department of Law Enforcement, which has a Criminal Investigation Division (CID)
• Idaho: State Police (ISP)
• Illinois: Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)
• Indiana: Criminal Investigation Division (CID)
• Iowa: Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)
• Kentucky: Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI)
• Louisiana: State Police (LSP), a.k.a. Police d’Etat de Louisiane
• Maine: State Police (MSP)
• Maryland: State Police (MSP)
• Massachusetts: State Police (MSP)
• Michigan: State Police (MSP)
• Minnesota: Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCI) and State Patrol (MSP)
• Mississippi: Bureau of Investigation (MBI)
• Missouri: State Highway Patrol (MSHP), which has a CID
• Montana: Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI)
• Nebraska: State Patrol (NSP), also with an Investigative Services division
• Nevada: Investigation Division (NID)
• New Hampshire: Investigative Services Bureau (ISB)
• New Jersey: Criminal Investigations Bureau (CIB) and State Detectives (NJSD)
• New Mexico: State Police (NMSP) Investigations Bureau (IB)
• New York: State Police (NYSP) Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI)
• North Carolina: State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)
• North Dakota: Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)
• Ohio: Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)
• Oklahoma: State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)
• Oregon: Criminal Justice Division (under the Department of Justice)
• Pennsylvania: State Police (PSP) Bureau of Criminal Investigation
• Puerto Rico: Special Investigations Bureau (SIB, or Negociado de Investigaciones Especiales, NIE)
• Rhode Island: State Police (RHSP) Detective Bureau
• South Carolina: Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and Highway Patrol (SCHP)
• South Dakota: Division of Criminal Investigation (SDCI)
• Tennessee: Bureau of Investigation (TBI)
• Texas: Rangers and Criminal Investigations Division (CID)
• Utah: State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)
• Vermont: Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI)
• Virginia: Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)
• Washington: State Patrol (WSP) Criminal Investigations Division (CID)
• West Virginia: State Police (WVSP) Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI)
• Wisconsin: Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)
• Wyoming: Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)

That's a lot of SBIs, CDIs, CIDs and BCIs, and (I'm proud to say, as a Minnesotan) only one BCA!

I was also thinking about "What do they call the Department of Motor Vehicles in all 50 states?" Is it called the DMV or something else? So here's that run-down:

• Alabama: Driver License Division and Division of Motor Vehicles (under two separate departments!)
• Alaska: Division of MVs
• Arizona: MV Division
• Arkansas: Office of Motor Vehicle (singular!)
• California: Department of MVs
• Colorado: Division of MVs
• Connecticut: Department of MVs
• Delaware: Division of MVs
• D.C.: Department of MVs
• Florida: Department of Highway Safety and MVs
• Georgia: Department of Driver Services and Motor Vehicle Division (same story, one's public safety and the other is revenue)
• Hawaii: Driver License Division and Motor Vehicle Division (same story)
• Idaho: Division of MVs
• Illinois: Driver Services Department and Vehicle Services Department (same story)
• Indiana: Bureau of Motor Vehicles
• Iowa: MV Division
• Kansas: Division of Vehicles
• Kentucky: Division of Driver Licensing and MV Licensing System
• Louisiana: Office of MVs
• Maine: Bureau of MVs
• Maryland: MV Administration
• Massachusetts: Registry of MVs
• Minnesota: Driver and Vehicle Services
• Mississippi: MV Licensing Division
• Missouri: Department of Revenue
• Montana: MV Division
• Nebraska: Department of MVs
• Nevada: Department of MVs
• New Hampshire: Division of MVs
• New Jersey: MV Commission
• New Mexico: MV Division
• New York: Department of MVs
• North Carolina: Division of MVs
• North Dakota: Driver License Division and MV Division
• Ohio: Bureau of MVs
• Oklahoma: Department of Public Safety and Tax Commission (the same driver license vs. vehicle records split)
• Oregon: Driver and MV Services
• Pennsylvania: Driver and Vehicle Services
• Rhode Island: Division of MVs
• South Carolina: Department of MVs
• South Dakota: Department of Public Safety and Department of Revenue
• Tennessee: Driver License Services and Vehicle Services Division
• Texas: Driver License Division and Department of MVs
• Utah: Driver License Services and Division of MVs
• Vermont: Department of MVs
• Virginia: Department of MVs
• Washington: Department of Licensing
• West Virginia: Division of MVs
• Wisconsin: Division of MVs
• Wyoming: Driver Services Program

... So, a lot of them are DMVs but with some alternation between Departments and Divisions, with a few Offices and Bureaus thrown in. And some MVDs. And a bunch of lousy states where you have to apply to different departments for your driver's license and your car's tags. Washingtonians have the best deal, with a licensing bureau that also handles boat, business and professional licenses. I've personally written checks to several variants of this alphabet soup. It's nice to see at a glance which ones are which!