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The vast majority of Anglo-American police and policing social studies illustrate, both theoretically and empirically, an a-statist, localist and, to a lesser extent, privatist organization. This article reconsiders this common perspective by exploring the socio-historical monographs of the California Highway Patrol. This inquiry reveals how a state can utilize a new and marginal policing objective—road risk and criminality—to develop a powerful and relatively autonomous police organization, which, despite its name, exists more as a police on the road than a police of the road, and plays a vital role in the Californian police system. Surprisingly, the California Highway Patrol embodies the model of a state institution much more common in “Older Europe” than in America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]