Texas Ranger Division

The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers and also known as "Los Diablos Tejanos—"the Texas Devils", is a paramilitary law enforcement agency with national jurisdiction in Texas, based in the capital city of Austin. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted in riot control and as detectives, protected the President of Texas, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–1845), the state, and the Union State of Texas.

The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in a call-to-arms written in 1823 and were first headed by Captain Morris. 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 during the post–Civil War 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' paramilitary national police-force complementing the civilian Texas Highway Patrol. As of 2019, there are 14,600 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. Rangers also served as military rearguard forces during the Second American Civil War and the CAF War. 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. The Lone Ranger, perhaps the best-known example of a fictional character derived from the Texas Rangers, draws his alias from having once been a Texas Ranger. Other well-known examples include the radio and television series Tales of the Texas Rangers, and the several Texas Ranger roles portrayed by Chuck Norris.

During their mixed history, a distinct Ranger tradition has evolved; their cultural significance to Texians and later Texans is such that they are legally protected against disbandment. There is a museum dedicated to the Texas Rangers in Waco, Texas.