Freeman F. Martin will replace Steve McCraw as director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. McCraw retired just a week before.

Freeman F. Martin was sworn in as the new director of the Texas Department of Public Safety at a ceremony in Austin.

Freeman Martin was sworn in by Gov. Greg Abbott as the agency’s 14th director. He worked his way up from Highway Patrol trooper in 1990.

Colonel Freeman Martin, a former Texas Ranger and deputy director of the DPS, was sworn in by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a change of command ceremony outside the Texas DPS headquarters in Austin. Martin is replacing Col. Steve McCraw, who announced last summer he was retiring after 15 years.

Governor Greg Abbott administered the oath to ceremonially swear in Director Freeman F. Martin at the Fallen Officers’ Memorial Site at the DPS Headquarters in Austin Monday morning.

Martin is the first Texas Ranger to ascend to the director role. Family and friends are mourning Soren Dixon, Jack Nelson and Krysta Tsukahara, all college students who graduated from Piedmont High School in 2023.