TVA Police Through the Years
Since TVA’s founding, the agency has had a powerful police force guarding TVA lands, generating facilities and the people of the Valley.
1930S TYPICAL OFFENSES
Between Jan. 1, 1937, and July 1, 1938, the Norris Public Safety Service made 75 arrests for offenses occurring on TVA property. Of these, 41 were for drunkenness, 17 for traffic violations, and 12 for miscellaneous offenses. During the same period, Public Safety Service conducted 156 investigations, and issued 94 warnings for offenses other than traffic.
Regarding traffic control, officers issued 2,318 warnings for traffic violations, with most being for operating violations such as speeding, reckless driving, and the running of stop signs.
Guntersville, on the other hand, was much more remote than Norris, and its arrests reflect that isolation. Only five arrests were made and 186 warnings issued – 31 for disorderly conduct, 37 for drunkenness, 59 for gambling, and 59 for miscellaneous offenses. A total of 341 warnings were issued for traffic violations.
You can count on the Tennessee Valley Authority Police (TVAP) – which have been around about as long as TVA has – to deliver service with integrity and excellence. That’s their mission. The name has changed over the years, but never the duties of promoting peace, safeguarding TVA’s generation and transmission assets, and protecting our public lands and lakes. The men and women of TVAP continue to serve TVA and its facilities, local power companies and consumers every day – 24/7. Here’s an overview of their storied history. You’ll see that as the times changed, so has TVA Police – from peacetime to wartime, from coal plants to nuclear plants, TVAP shifted identities many times, but always kept service front and center.
1933: NITRATE PROTECTION
Two weeks after the initial TVA Board meeting on June 16, 1933, the first uniformed property protection force – consisting of about a dozen men – was established to provide police and fire protection at the two nitrate plants that TVA managed near Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
1934: PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICE TAKES OVER
In March 1934, at Norris Dam in east Tennessee, the first unit of TVA’s Police, Fire, and Guide Service was organized. The program responsibilities included fire prevention, directing traffic, protecting life and property, guiding visitors, and policing of the area.
A month later, a similar unit formed at north Alabama’s Wheeler Dam, and, in July 1934, the former guards at Muscle Shoals reorganized to form a Police, Fire, and Guide Service. TVA retained this title for its versatile protection forces until January 1936, when TVA established the shorter, more descriptive title – Public Safety Service.
A Public Safety Service unit was established at each construction project, usually administratively responsible to the local Camp Management Section. There was also a functional tie to the Safety Section of the Health and Medical Service Division, but without any centralized administrative control until the creation of the Reservoir Property Management Department in July 1937.
1937: EXPANDING DUTIES
Although the primary duties of the Public Safety Service have always been to act as TVA's police and fire protection team, and as host to millions of visitors, other miscellaneous duties have varied with changing times and needs.
Duties in the 1930s included the operation of dormitories and routine camp management functions at most TVA construction projects.
These functions ranged from providing police and fire protection at public gatherings to delivering thousands of telephone and telegraph messages. Public Safety Service also worked with the local authorities to coordinate raids and make arrests near TVA projects.
TVA’s Police, Fire, and Guide Service formed to protect life and property.
1941: SERVING IN WARTIME
The role of Public Safety Service changed with the onset of World War II in the 1940s. The organization changed itself almost overnight from a visitor’s reception and peacetime law enforcement staff into an efficient protective force capable of defending against sabotage.
Immediate expansion of Public Safety Service became necessary. The force grew from 120 employees in 1939 to 250 in January 1941. The service reached peak employment of 900 in July 1942.
1942: TRAINED FOR WARTIME
TVA established central training schools to let trainees complete their instruction in six weeks instead of the prewar six months.
In 1942, all members of the Public Safety Service were sworn in as Civilian Auxiliary to the Military Police and served in this capacity until 1945.
Since protection against sabotage was of vital importance, Public Safety Service assisted the Personnel Division in screening all employees, new and old, by fingerprinting. Special training was given to employees with emphasis on fire and sabotage protection.
1945: POST-WAR PRIORITIES
The post-war years of the mid to late 1940s saw protective equipment removed from powerhouses and dams, and the public once again welcomed to visit TVA facilities.
TVA hosted intensive training at Norris Dam in December 1945 to prepare the Public Safety Service to once again discharge its public relations duties. The service remained under the administration of the Reservoir Properties Department, which was renamed the Division of Reservoir Properties in 1948.
ARMY RANGERS TEST TVA
During wartime, TVA made arrangements with U.S. Army Rangers to analyze how well the dams were protected.
Mancil Milligan, Sergeant of Public Safety Service, reminisced that, “at Pickwick, I spotted them one Sunday afternoon. I saw six men drive up in a car. I knew right then that was the Army Rangers because that was unusual to see six men in one car. They tried to take (Pickwick Dam), but they didn’t. We captured every one of them. I was proud of that.”
Milligan went on to share the story of one facility that didn’t fare as well: “These Rangers got some woman that they knew whose husband worked at the dam. They had her drive a car with maybe a couple of them laying down in the car. She told the officer at the gate that her husband was sick and wanted her to come and get him. The old boy was big hearted, and he just opened the gate and let them in. So the Rangers took that place.”
All members of the Public Safety Service were sworn in as Civilian Auxiliary to the Military Police and served in this capacity until 1945.
WOMEN OFFICERS OF PUBLIC SAFETY
During World War II, many of the agency’s male employees answered their country’s call to serve in the armed forces, leaving vacancies in many areas, including Public Safety Service.
TVA’s response to that danger was outlined in a statement issued April 1, 1943. Despite its loss of employees to Uncle Sam, the agency would expand its Public Safety Service force to nearly 1,000, and it would do so by creating a new corps of security guards: the Women Officers of Public Safety. In the spirit of the WACs and WAVES, these officers would be known as the WOOPS.
TVA accepted applications from women between the ages of 21 and 39, and those accepted went through a course of intense combat training, including practice with riot guns and courses in judo.
The fact that TVA’s women officers carried .38-caliber pistols distinguished them from the WACs and WAVES, who weren’t generally issued weapons. Many of the WOOPS had never fired a gun before.
Winnie Wade, of Madison, Georgia, served as a junior payroll clerk and expressed her pleasure in taking on a WOOPS role. “It’s more interesting,” she told the Knoxville News-Sentinel at the time. “I want to learn to work with the dogs and to shoot.”
It was a tough, often lonely job patrolling the perimeters around dams and power plants or guarding TVA’s offices in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Some officers worked with German shepherd dogs, which helped them keep installations like the agency’s new Watts Bar Dam secure. Although many of the women were single, a few were the wives of Public Safety Service officers who left to serve in the war.
Kathleen Brown’s husband had been a safety officer at Chickamauga Dam. “He is overseas,” she told the Christian Science Monitor, which ran a story on the WOOPS. “I released him to the Army, as bad as I hated to, so I’m going to replace him.”
In 1944, a little over a year after the program began, the armed forces awarded the corps the coveted Army-Navy E for Excellence award.
1950S: BUILDING THE TEAM
The 1950s saw acceleration of such programs as the driver training and testing program, which Public Safety Service officers promoted in an effort to reduce vehicular accidents.
Additionally, emergency training and drills became part of service duties. Officers prepared plans for all major properties, detailing the most efficient use of people and equipment resources in potential crisis situations.
1970: PLANNING FOR PEACE
With the growing demand for outdoor recreation opportunities, better access to TVA reservoirs became a priority.
Planners identified sites and facilities for reservoir access in 1968 and developed programming for a five-year period beginning in 1970.
Fishing, boating, paddling, swimming, water skiing and more became available to Tennessee Valley residents and visitors.
1971: DUTIES EXPAND
The year 1971 alone saw the establishment and operation of 10 new public-use areas and 10 resort development demonstrations, such as KenLake located on Kentucky Lake.
With this expansion came the extension of Public Safety Service’s patrol areas. No longer restricted to TVA facilities, areas such as substations, switchyards, and construction projects were included.
The 1970s was a period of great expansion and change for Public Safety Service.
The building of nuclear facilities necessitated major changes in terms of recruitment and training of officers, as well as in staffing levels at these facilities. Guidelines for these areas had traditionally been established between Public Safety Service and the TVA organizations it served.
1975: TVA’S NUCLEAR REVOLUTION
When TVA's first nuclear power plant, Browns Ferry, became operational in 1975, the guidelines established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) came into effect.
The NRC, which ensures adequate safeguards before and after a nuclear power plant is licensed, assumed part of the responsibility for establishing a protection program at TVA's nuclear facilities. NRC regulations for qualifications and training requirements for nuclear plant guard services, as well as minimum staffing guidelines, caused TVA's security service to become much more complex.
1978: PROFESSIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
A study conducted in 1978 outlined additional training requirements for Public Safety Service officers to align with NRC requirements.
Study recommendations included the establishment of a centralized public safety training school at Cleveland State Community College, additional fire training, and annual nuclear retraining.
To meet NRC requirements for staffing, additional personnel were trained and assigned to the nuclear sites. Original estimates for the number of officers needed to adequately staff the nuclear plants required the addition of about 350 employees in Public Safety Service.
1980S: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES
Public Safety Service growth in the 80s leveled out and the training school at Cleveland State Community College closed in 1987.
Organizational changes resulted in Public Safety Service nuclear personnel relocated to the Power Division in 1987 and the fossil plant personnel followed in 1990.
1990: SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
The Land between the Lakes patrol moved to the Public Safety Service in 1990.
As a result of this and earlier changes, the functions performed by public safety officers divided into two categories – industrial security and law enforcement.
• Industrial Security: Public safety officers assigned to fossil and nuclear plants primarily provided plant security and asset protection. These officers did not have continuous interaction with users of TVA public-use areas. Also, these officers did not need law enforcement commissions, nor need to be armed except as required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• Law Enforcement: Officers assigned to TVA dams and lakes, recreation areas, and the Knoxville, Chattanooga and Muscle Shoals metropolitan areas interact with the public daily. These officers serve as the primary law enforcement presence, responding to criminal, civil, and emergency matters. The nature of their work requires them to be trained, armed, and commissioned as professional law enforcement officers.
DOGS USED FOR TVA LAW ENFORCEMENT
While TVA’s current police dogs may seem like a new addition to the TVA Police, they are not the first four-legged friends to protect TVA employees and facilities.
The use of dogs for property protection, a system developed by the U.S. Army in cooperation with a private organization that recruits dogs, was undertaken by TVA in 1942.
Public Safety Officers went to the Army dog training center at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, for four weeks beginning in November 1942, and returned with 24 dogs, lent by the Army at no cost to TVA except for small articles of equipment. The dogs were stationed at various power installations throughout the valley for protection of isolated plants from intrusion of unauthorized persons.
The dogs proved especially useful at night. The animals’ keen ears and sensitive nose can detect an intruder even when he is effectively hidden from view. The dogs returned to the Army sometime between July 1943 and July 1944.
“I remember the first dog that I took out. They were well-trained Army dogs. The chief told me, ‘Mancil, go up to
the airplane hangar and get old Blackie,’” recalled Mancil Milligan, a Public Safety Service Sergeant, in Voice of the Valley: Remembering WW II.
“Our dog was Blackie. It was a Belgian Shepherd. They had brought three or four other dogs and they were all in the hangar. They were carrying them to various places, one to Jackson, Tennessee, and some to Memphis. So I opened the airplane hangar and old Blackie was just turning somersaults. He was on a leash, and of course, I was in uniform. But I was actually afraid of him. He looked like he would eat me up, but I knew what to say to him. I thought, well I’ll sell the TVA my left hand. I’m not going to use my right hand. I just walked up and said, ‘Sit Blackie’ and just put my hand on his head. He just sat down and started grinning. Just sat there and grinned. I loaded him in the car and carried him over across the dam to where we used him. He was a wonderful dog, and I wonder what happened to him. We used the dog in the switchyard. The switchyard and the powerhouse, of course, were two of the most vital things we had. The officer that patrolled the switchyard took that dog out at dark and led him everywhere he went.”
1990: TVAP WAS BORN
Because of the differences between industrial security and law enforcement, a new organization, TVA Police, was created to replace the Public Safety Service.
The 1994 Crime Control Bill authorized TVA to designate employees as federal law enforcement officers and gave TVA Police federal authority to protect and serve in the seven-state service area. Employees chosen for the TVA Police profession successfully completed a selection and training process, including an 11-week law enforcement course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
1995: COMMISSIONING FEDERAL POLICE OFFICERS
In September 1995, in a ceremony at Norris Dam, TVA commissioned 125 federal police officers.
These officers are charged with providing protection of employees at all TVA sites, as well as the public and TVA property. They maintain law and order on all property under the care of TVA, and they have the authorization to carry firearms, seek and execute arrests or search warrants, and conduct investigations.
Additional corporate responsibilities of the TVA Police organization include emergency management, risk assessments, access control, and non-nuclear personnel suitability and clearances.
1995: IMPROVING TVAP
In May 1998, TVA Police was the first armed federal law enforcement agency to receive accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
TVA POLICE
On Sept. 12, 1995, 125 men and women made a vow. Each pledged to “impartially discharge the duties incumbent upon me as a federal law enforcement officer . . .I will serve the United States and the Tennessee Valley Authority honestly and faithfully.”
And the TVA Police force was born. This federal law enforcement authority helped TVA meet its responsibility to the public in the face of two threats much more common in the Tennessee Valley in the 1990s: marijuana cultivation and sale of illegal drugs.
“We recently made an arrest of a person who was selling cocaine from a tent at a TVA campground,” then-Director Robert Carter said. “He was using cell phones and pagers.” Addressing illegal substance use had been a challenge.
“But having consistent law enforcement ability will help us make TVA properties and reservations more family-oriented,” Carter said. “And already we’re getting thanks from public users of TVA property.”
THREAT OF TERRORISM
The increasing threat of terrorism, coupled with the need to protect TVA’s critical energy grid, transformed TVA Police in 2011. Their force was supplemented with armed contract security guards at critical facilities, and they began cross-training their federal officers in physical security and emergency management.
“New and increasingly sophisticated threats are facing the energy industry,” said Director Todd Peney. “To address those and to help TVA continue serving the public, we are focusing on preparedness, prevention, and technology.”
TVA Police partnered with the Federal Protective Service and have since served in a variety of capacities in addition to their traditional law enforcement duties.
2001: POLICE FORCE CHANGES FOREVER
Law enforcement in the United States changed forever on Sept. 11, 2001. On this date, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania resulted in 2,977 fatalities, more than 25,000 injuries, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.
9/11 is the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States with 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers killed.
In response to the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security, a cabinet department of the U.S. federal government, was created in 2002.
2002: SECURITY TIGHTENS
Shortly afterward, TVA Police, at the direction of the TVA Board, created a multi-organizational taskforce to address improved communication, the activation and deactivation of Emergency Operations Centers, and the sharing of information.
For this and other reasons, TVA Police tightened security at all our buildings.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
2020 marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe acute respiratory disease that was highly infectious and contagious.
The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January and, by March, the WHO declared it a pandemic.
TVA Police and Emergency Management helped lead TVA through the resulting years of ongoing pandemic response by supporting agency-level incident coordination, collaborating with external emergency management partners, assisting with case tracking and contact tracing for nearly 25,000 employees and contractors. In addition, they supported vaccination drives for employees, contractors, and their families across East Tennessee.
2020s: EVOLVING TO BE THE BEST
Today, TVA Police continues its focus of serving and protecting the public, TVA employees, and TVA properties.
Activities continue to be broad in nature and, on any given day, may include such actions as providing protection and traffic control for TVA work crews repairing storm-damaged transmission lines, recovering stolen property, protecting cultural sites, arresting looters, and teaching safety classes to TVA employees.
In addition, TVA Police has added metal detectors as extra security measures for use at TVA Board and other public meetings and have drafted an Active Shooter Plan.
TODAY: SERVICE FIRST
TVA Police continue to assist the Department of Homeland Security, along with the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, in acquiring information for national and critical assets.
Serving the people of the Tennessee Valley to improve the quality of life is TVA’s overarching mission. Proudly representing this mission of service by keeping us safe are the people of TVA Police.
