Texas Ranger Division
law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas
The Texas Ranger Division, also known as the Texas Rangers and nicknamed the Diablos Tejanos (Spanish for 'Texan Devils'), is an investigative law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Texas, based in the capital city Austin. The Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted in riot control and as detectives, protected the governor of Texas, tracked down fugitives, served as a security force at important state locations, including the Alamo, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–1846) and the State of Texas. Today they also conduct cybercrime investigations, cold case reviews, public corruption probes, and provide tactical support in major emergencies.
The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in a call-to-arms written in 1823. After a decade, on August 10, 1835, Daniel Parker introduced a resolution to the Permanent Council creating a body of rangers to protect the Mexican border. The unit was dissolved by the federal authorities after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Era but was quickly reformed upon the reinstitution of home government. Since 1935, the organization has been a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS); it fulfills the role of Texas' state bureau of investigation. As of 2019, there are 166 commissioned members of the Ranger force.
The Rangers have taken part in many of the most important events of Texas history, such as stopping the assassination of presidents William Howard Taft and Porfirio Díaz in El Paso, and in some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West, such as those of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass, and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
Scores of books have been written about the Rangers, from well-researched works of nonfiction to pulp novels and other such fiction, making the Rangers significant participants in the mythology of the Wild West and modern culture.
“Texas Ranger Division” enters the record as law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Texas, Ranger and Division can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q510865. VIAF identifies the subject as 146536782. The Library of Congress control number is n50015874. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1836, 1846, 1823 and 1835.
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This entry incorporates text from “Texas Ranger Division” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.