Trooper school

[fireplug]

Could someone tell me why there is such urgency from some people in our state that they insist we have a trooper school?

I'm against it personally, not because of the cost of the school, but because I see it as just another opportunity to grow the current police state
we are already dealing with across the country. I personally don't have run in's with the law, but the older I get the more Libertarian I've become
and I think all the excess police presence just invites trouble. Why don't we utilize our county sherriff depts more and rely less on the Hwy patrol?

Just my $0.02

[Deltaquack]

Could someone tell me why there is such urgency from some people in our state that they insist we have a trooper school?

I'm against it personally, not because of the cost of the school, but because I see it as just another opportunity to grow the current police state
we are already dealing with across the country. I personally don't have run in's with the law, but the older I get the more Libertarian I've become
and I think all the excess police presence just invites trouble. Why don't we utilize our county sherriff depts more and rely less on the Hwy patrol?

Just my $0.02

Country Sheriff's departments can't patrol US highways in all but like 3 counties. Several Country Sheriff's departments are very corrupt. Just to answer a few

[fireplug]

So the answer is more police? I don't follow that logic. I didn't mean have more patroling the hwy, I meant for response to accidents
or traffic control, or more investigative work. I just don't like the idea of having a state run army.

[Deltamud77]

What abuses have you personally seen by the MHP that would approximate a police state?

[teul2]

Having a trooper school in state does not equal more troopers.
It does reduce the expense of paying another state to train our officers. Most likely, eventually paying for it's self (assuming the govt runs it correctly).

I'll get my tin foil hat for the rest of this discussion.

[JaMak84]

Maybe to get ahead of the game and have trained,experienced troopers ready to fill the spots of troopers reaching retirement age in the next few years?

[fireplug]

Maybe to get ahead of the game and have trained,experienced troopers ready to fill the spots of troopers reaching retirement age in the next few years?

This is a legitimate reason. Money is not a legitamate argument for or against. If we "Need" them, then we have the funds to pay for the
training. I just don't understand why everyone says we are short and are in "need" of more troopers. Where is an example of something that
has happened that we need more troopers for and haven't had them on hand?

[edub20]

isn't half of the MHP force able to retire right now if they wanted?

[fireplug]

What abuses have you personally seen by the MHP that would approximate a police state?

I haven't personally seen any abuses, because as I mentioned, I'm a law abiding citizen and steer clear of the law, but I've
seen too much going on lately to think that creating another "citizen army", as Obama wanted, will be a good thing.
Too many instances of abuses of power going on in our country, and too many instances of officers not completely understanding
laws (specifically constitutional rights), all makes me nervous when I hear the Gubment wanting to beef up police forces. Have we
had a recent outbreak of speeders on the hwy that we need a hwy patrol around every turn?

This is not a Ms hwy patrol bashing thread. If we need more troopers for attrition sake, then so be it, let's have a class, but
I'm trying to understand if that is what everyone is so up in the air about or if they are just wanting to grow the force size. (which I would not agree to)

[Deltamud77]

What abuses have you personally seen by the MHP that would approximate a police state?

I haven't personally seen any abuses, because as I mentioned, I'm a law abiding citizen and steer clear of the law, but I've
seen too much going on lately to think that creating another "citizen army", as Obama wanted, will be a good thing.
Too many instances of abuses of power going on in our country, and too many instances of officers not completely understanding
laws (specifically constitutional rights), all makes me nervous when I hear the Gubment wanting to beef up police forces. Have we
had a recent outbreak of speeders on the hwy that we need a hwy patrol around every turn?

This is not a Ms hwy patrol bashing thread. If we need more troopers for attrition sake, then so be it, let's have a class, but
I'm trying to understand if that is what everyone is so up in the air about or if they are just wanting to grow the force size. (which I would not agree to)

You do understand what the connotation "police state" means, right? It means that police are intrusive against law abiding citizens such as yourself...yet you have not been bothered by MHP. You also realize, I hope, that MHP is an executive level STATE agency. That means the governor controls them. While I agree the federal government is grossly out of hand relative to growth as a whole as well as influence in federal level law enforcement roles, I fail to see any connection whatsoever to the Mississippi Highway Patrol having a needed patrol school to a police state or citizen army run by Obama. As a matter of fact, I question whether your post is some sort of troll attempt it seems so ill informed and outlandish.

My understanding is that they are way under the necessary force to actually fulfill their function. Like 200 below what is statutorily allowed with a large number that could retire right now not included. I do know that there are a few counties right now that have no troopers assigned to them permanently.

[Deltaquack]

I don't see them hiring any more troopers any time soon. Their budget was cut recently b/c they asked for more money for the troopers and later found out it went to buying Admins SUV's. The school would likely be more efficient and the state would have more control over it........which isn't such a bad thing in MS. I'd be totally against it if it were in some states.

[Deltamud77]

I don't see them hiring any more troopers any time soon. Their budget was cut recently b/c they asked for more money for the troopers and later found out it went to buying Admins SUV's. The school would likely be more efficient and the state would have more control over it........which isn't such a bad thing in MS. I'd be totally against it if it were in some states.

That is actually completely false according to Gallow and JT on Talk Mississippi.

[fireplug]

What abuses have you personally seen by the MHP that would approximate a police state?

I haven't personally seen any abuses, because as I mentioned, I'm a law abiding citizen and steer clear of the law, but I've
seen too much going on lately to think that creating another "citizen army", as Obama wanted, will be a good thing.
Too many instances of abuses of power going on in our country, and too many instances of officers not completely understanding
laws (specifically constitutional rights), all makes me nervous when I hear the Gubment wanting to beef up police forces. Have we
had a recent outbreak of speeders on the hwy that we need a hwy patrol around every turn?

This is not a Ms hwy patrol bashing thread. If we need more troopers for attrition sake, then so be it, let's have a class, but
I'm trying to understand if that is what everyone is so up in the air about or if they are just wanting to grow the force size. (which I would not agree to)

You do understand what the connotation "police state" means, right? It means that police are intrusive against law abiding citizens such as yourself...yet you have not been bothered by MHP. You also realize, I hope, that MHP is an executive level STATE agency. That means the governor controls them. While I agree the federal government is grossly out of hand relative to growth as a whole as well as influence in federal level law enforcement roles, I fail to see any connection whatsoever to the Mississippi Highway Patrol having a needed patrol school to a police state or citizen army run by Obama. As a matter of fact, I question whether your post is some sort of troll attempt it seems so ill informed and outlandish.

My understanding is that they are way under the necessary force to actually fulfill their function. Like 200 below what is statutorily allowed with a large number that could retire right now not included. I do know that there are a few counties right now that have no troopers assigned to them permanently.

I understand and know exactly what it means. Growing a police force, executive level or not has the potential to get out of control when it is ran by ANY Government, hence my concern. I am not aware of the current levels of troopers, nor am I concerned that they are too low. I was curious as to why, all of the sudden, there is this desperate push for more. My county is one of those counties that is without a full time trooper. Even though I came across a traffic
accident in my county on Tuesday of this week and there were 2 hwy patrol officers working traffic. My earlier point was that this could have been handled
by county officers and no Hwy patrol would have been needed.

I'm just going to ignore the troll thing.

[420 racin]

I agree with Fireplug on this. If we need more troopers to fullfill the void that is to be created when others retire..so be it, but to need a whole new school ( I guess the "school" troopers have been going to isn't good enough anymore) to generate a bunch of new troopers to run the roads and "serve and protect" is crazy. Especially in this time of budget decline and debt increases. It will cost more to have more troopers, new cars, radio's, payroll, and they all have to have their new AR-15 that you and I don't need,etc..etc...
We (MS) as well as the rest of the country have got to start trimming some fat in the budget dept. everybody agrees to that, but nobody wants to trim it.

While MHP may not have had instances where they overstepped their boundaries or become police state so to speak, It can and will follow suit of the other enforcement agencies across the country. Whether it is local, state or federal, people better start paying attention to what is shaping up around them.

I have no specific problem with the MHP, I don't agree with settign up roadblocks to randomly check everybody that comes through, but that is a different topic.

[Deltamud77]

Growing a police force, executive level or not has the potential to get out of control when it is ran by ANY Government, hence my concern

Understood. If it is true that they are grossly undermanned, then how would they be growing a police force by attempting to once again reach safe levels?