Thompson currently serves as a Board Member for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and served as president of the organization in 2016. (Courtesy: ARDOT)
LITTLE ROCK — Major Jay Thompson has been named Chief of the Arkansas Highway Police (AHP), a Division of the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), according to agency officials.
Thompson began his career with the Department as a Telecommunications Operator in 1988. He left the Department in 1990 and was rehired in 1992 as an AHP Patrolman. While working in Pine Bluff, he was promoted to the ranks of Patrol Officer First Class and Corporal. After transferring to a patrol unit in Benton, he was promoted to Inspector and was assigned to the AHP Central Office, carrying out a variety of administrative duties including working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. He was then promoted to Captain over the Permit Section where he managed the day-to-day operations of the Section. Prior to being named Chief, he held the position of Major at the AHP Division and the Oversize/Overweight Permit Section.
AHP protects the State Highway infrastructure by enforcing Arkansas’ size and weight laws for commercial vehicles and by monitoring those vehicles for speeding and other traffic violations.
“We are extremely pleased to announce Major Thompson as our new Chief of the Arkansas Highway Police,” stated ARDOT Director Scott Bennett. “Major Thompson has done an outstanding job in his years at the AHP and is respected by his peers, both here at the Department and throughout the law enforcement community. I am confident in the leadership he will provide to all of the officers in our Division.”
Thompson currently serves as a Board Member for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and served as president of the organization in 2016. He received the CVSA John Youngblood Award of Excellence in 2003. In 2016, Thompson received the Professionalism, Harmonization, Partnership and Leader Award from the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the AHP Charity Fund, a non-profit organization.
Thompson has an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Pikes Peak Community College in Golden, Colorado. He replaces former AHP Chief Ronnie Burks who retired earlier this year.
Dorothy Cox is former assistant editor – now retired – of The Trucker, and a 20-plus-year trucking journalism veteran. She holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in divinity. Cox has been in journalism since 1972. She has won awards for her writing in both mainstream and trucking journalism.
