Smaller MHP plays smarter on holiday safety

On Wednesday, a driver refused to yield to a Madison County deputy on a traffic stop and proceeded up I-55 at the speed limit.

He wasn't speeding, but just wasn't going to stop, apparently. He changed his mind when five Mississippi Highway Patrol units seemingly appeared out of nowhere, all blue lights and sirens.

The driver may not have been aware that MHP's Thanksgiving enforcement initiative "Line 2 Line," during which troopers are saturating I-55 through Sunday night, had just begun. During a normal day however, those additional resources would not have been there.

"Line 2 Line" has a different look than the usual holiday enforcement operation in order to get the highest visibility with MHP's current low numbers. Since I-55 is Mississippi's most traveled road during the holidays and it runs the length of the state, MHP has 16 troopers running 35 miles each along I-55. Other troopers will man other state and federal roads as well.

"Visibility in itself can be a deterrent," public affairs officer Johnny Poulos said. "If you have a lot of traffic and people know there's going to be an area where law enforcement is going to be out looking for speeders or the distracted drivers, people are going to slow down and be more focused on safe driving."

Madison County Sheriff's Department spokesman Heath Hall said both the driver and the passenger were arrested on outstanding warrants. Their names were not immediately available.

The reality is that when there's not a major incident or initiative in progress, there are never that many troopers in one stretch of road. By law, MHP can have 650 sworn officers. Right now, there are roughly 440 sworn officers, including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, driver services, and the brass at headquarters, leaving about 300 troopers in the nine districts. Each district has a captain, a lieutenant, and four master sergeants, and the road troopers work shifts.

MHP's numbers are close to an all-time low, officials said, with authorities saying 66 troopers have left since the 2015 trooper school graduated 48. Another 150 or so could retire today.

Yearly, the Department of Public Safety asks the Legislature for money for a trooper school to put more troopers on the roads, reducing overtime and fatigue for officers and boosting coverage for the public.

A 2015 bill approved raises for troopers and implemented "steps" that increase pay every four years. Yet in recent years, MHP has lost 3 troopers to federal agencies and 5 troopers to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the brass expects that will continue.

A trooper with four years experience in Texas makes $89,264. A Mississippi trooper with four years experience makes $41,000. A trainee in Mississippi makes $16,100 a year, to be bumped up to roughly $38,000 upon graduation. According to the 2015 pay scale, a Mississippi trooper doesn't top $50,000 until he or she hits the rank of staff sergeant with 16 years on the force.

In Texas, a Trainee starts at $55,481, and upon commission makes $60,613. After successful completion of a year long field training, that trooper makes $73,208 per year.

Troopers cite fatigue as a problem as well. In the Brookhaven District, there are 10 troopers to cover the roads in nine counties, and that doesn't account for shifts. It's an accurate snapshot of the situation on the 10,900 miles MHP is responsible for around the state, and Poulos said the rising number of wrecks and injuries on Mississippi's highways and interstates is a direct result. There just aren't enough troopers to encourage safe driving through visibility, nor to handle all the calls in a timely manner.

In 2015 to date, MHP had investigated 10,948 crashes, 3,260 of which involved injuries. In the same time period this year, there have been 11,615 crashes, 3,511 of which had injuries. There were 5,373 people injured in MHP's area to date in 2015, and in 2016 that number has jumped to 5,721.

In the 2015 Thanksgiving enforcement period there were 221 crashes and four fatalities. Poulos said the Public Affairs Division came up with Line 2 Line to lower the fatality rate since they can't raise the number of troopers before the holidays, but it took some "thinking outside the box."

The problem in Mississippi is not recruiting, Poulos said, because every year DPS takes hundreds of calls from people who want to know if there will be a trooper school and how to apply. That enthusiasm for law enforcement that seems characteristic to the Magnolia state has been noticed by surrounding states where it's harder to recruit cops. Poulos said states like Texas and Florida actively recruit not just prospects, but experienced officers in Mississippi.

"You have an MHP booth set up at a job fair, and then you have Florida Highway Patrol set up right next to us," he said. "Or while we're trying to acquire numbers, you've got other agencies that know the reputation of the Mississippi Highway Patrol and our training, and that's the troopers that they want in their agencies. Unfortunately they're being successful in getting them."

In a situation where two to four troopers could be working an area of nine or 10 counties, safety is also an issue. In recent weeks, several officers nationally have been targeted while writing tickets. When a veteran officer in San Antonio was shot and killed, officers were immediately ordered not to conduct traffic stops without backup, which is something that's not feasible for the understaffed MHP.

"That trooper is working their shift alone," Poulos said. "Let's say for some reasons shots were fired and that trooper is injured. The response time for their backup to get there is not good. Another trooper could be two or three counties away from you."

The support Mississippi offers law enforcement is one reason many will stay, though. Poulos said especially in the recent climate of anti-police sentiment around the country, Mississippi has offered those in uniform a better experience.

"Over the course of the past year a lot of officers, we always talk about how many times people from the public have bought our lunch. I think I've had more people offer to buy my lunch this year than throughout my whole entire life," Poulos said. "So that will tell you we do have support."

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.