From Horseback to Elite Investigators: How the legend of the Texas Rangers continues today

Paid Content: The Texas Rangers are built on tradition and legacy, protecting the citizens of Texas for nearly 200 years.

To cover that much ground, the Rangers started to modernize in 1934 as part of Texas’s newly formed Department of Public Safety (DPS). With DPS's creation, the Rangers finally received the support to match its grand tradition and efforts.  Since then, the agency has increased its manpower to 167 commissioned Rangers.   "By all standards, ten years ago there were only 103 Texas Rangers, which is interesting because there are 254 counties in Texas," said Matt Cawthon, a retired Texas Ranger. "If you have 103 or 172 Rangers, you still don't have one Ranger for each County, so each Ranger has to cover more than one County, and some of the counties in Texas are very large."