JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The House Committee on Appropriations of Public Safety and Corrections met Monday afternoon for the first installment of a two-part hearing on the effects and future plans for the Missouri State Highway Patrol since it incorporated the Missouri Water Patrol into its ranks in 2011.
Rep. Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, delivered a report on findings from her subcommittee dealing with the question of how well the water patrol had integrated into the highway patrol and how the highway patrol had handled that change.
Franklin reported that the highway patrol had experienced some growing pains, in terms of specific water training, a lack of enforcement on float streams, a missing component of water patrol acting as local law enforcement involved in communities near areas such as the Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake, and a lack of leadership in the highway patrol on how to deal with waterway problems.
“To mesh the two together was kind of disorienting, it seems like, on many levels.” Franklin said, in her testimony. “The unfortunate thing that happened was that the water patrol commanders had a difficult way of finding their way or their voice into what those highway patrol leaders should know.”
Col. Bret Johnson, the head of the MSHP, also reported that of the department’s 1270 employees across the state, only 75 were a part of the water patrol division. That figure is an increase of the 65 employees before the merger, but Rep. Kathie Conway, R-St. Charles, believes when it comes to appropriations, more money for more water patrol staff may be a good place to start.
“Possibly getting more highway patrol officers could be a good thing or at least the cross-training and have very capable people on the waterways,” Conway says. “If you come to Missouri we want you to be protected and have a safe and wonderful time.”
How she and the committee will go about finding that funding is another matter. She leans towards using existing money instead of asking for more from taxpayers.
“Rather than go to general revenue every time, we’re looking for more funding for something, there’s a lot of money out there that’s collected through fees or licensing or all kinds of different ways,” she said. “If those particular funds are very healthy, overfunded, then we need to look at the statute that set them up and see if it’s possible to expand that to maybe use some of those funds for a like or in kind purpose.
“I would always like to try to use money that has already been collected than try and collect new money and keep general revenue available for things that truly need it.”
The committee will continue their hearing tomorrow morning to decide on a course of action.
