AUSTIN, Texas — Col. Steve McCraw is retiring from his position as the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). He made the announcement during his commencement speech at a DPS officer graduation ceremony Friday morning in Austin. He will retire at the end of 2024.
McCraw has served as the director of the department since 2009. He began his law enforcement career as a DPS trooper for the Texas Highway Patrol in 1977 and later as a DPS Narcotics agent until 1983 when he became a special agent with the FBI.
In 2004, he retired from the FBI to become the Texas Homeland Security Director in the Office of the Governor, where he served until he was appointed DPS director.
"There is no more important responsibility in government than ensuring the safety and security of our citizens," McCraw wrote in a letter to the department. "You, the men and women of the Texas Department of Public Safety, have upheld this responsibility with unmatched excellence. Serving as the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety has been the greatest honor of my life."
In recent years, McCraw's name has become better known to Texans. His department is involved with Operation Lone Star, the border security operation launched in 2021, and he has faced criticism for the actions of officers under his leadership during the mass shooting in Uvalde in 2022.
On Sept. 9, 2022, McCraw told CNN he would resign if his troopers had “any culpability” in the flawed police response to that school shooting. A few days later, in an exclusive interview with KVUE’s Tony Plohetski, McCraw said, “We have some level of culpability. I've got no doubt. To the extent that the Department of Public Safety is responsible for the failed response – there are some things I just can't admit to, simply because it's not true. And I'm not in a position right now to try to defend what DPS did or not.”
Locally, McCraw was instrumental in the controversial, on-and-off partnership between DPS and the Austin Police Department (APD) last year, when DPS troopers were brought in to assist APD amid staffing issues.
McCraw is an El Paso native with Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts degrees from West Texas State University, now West Texas A&M University.