The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the state police

State police

State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...

 force for the state of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction when requested by the Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

, designated by Troop Sectors.
As with other state police organizations, the primary reason for the creation of the New Jersey State Police was for the protection of rural areas that had never had law enforcement, beyond a local sheriff, who was often not able to provide suitable police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 services.