Consider this spreadsheet to be the public record of the day. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety issued a $1,000 per year clothing allowance to 106 employees in 2016. The allowance was not renewed at the end of 2016 for 17 additional employees. It is rather interesting to see who took advantage of the allowance. Clue: Some of those receiving the allowance were not the ones who need it the most. The records were obtained through a public records request.
Kingfish note: It is the opinion of this website that those who truly deserve a clothing allowance, the working stiff investigators and those in similar positions, should get the clothing allowance. However, JJ fails to see why such allowances should be awarded to the Commissioner and Colonel.
34 comments:
Why can't they do like everyone else, buy their own clothes?
So we pay for their cars, their clothes, their gas and their food (for those who eat at the academy every day); what the hell is DPS, a state agency or a bunch of welfare queens? By the way, is the academy still open only four days a week?
WHAT A JOKE! The Governor needs to start over.
Amen 3:04 p.m. Not to mention quite a few of the instructors are "retired" drawing checks then working for the academy as "contract". Talk about double dipping.
This is taxable income if the State reports it according to the tax code.
Uniforms are supplied. Clothing allowance is for anything else. Once a trooper showed me the $500.00 leather coat he bought with it.
Wonder why Ellis Hollingsworth (48 and 50) and Mike Holmes (49 and 51) were listed twice?
Put them in with basic classes, deputies, police officers. Much cheaper. A few each class. Arizona and other states have found this effective and better relations with local officers. Then a couple of weeks mhp policies etc. Ticket writers do not need more basic training than "do it all local officers".
I agree with you jj . Why does the Lt. Colonels also need a clothing allowance. Also there are jobs there that are a no production job (certain friends of politics). They get to take home vehicles and have travel expenses (so called) reimbursements. I can see MBI with allowances but if you are a Trooper or a supervisor of Troopers you should wear the uniforms .
Why not have a lateral hire of already certified officers. Trooper school does not offer any extra certification. Troopers actually can do less than any other partol, municipal and county.
Maybe 1% of the troopers on the road could be successful at a local PD or sheriff's department, they have zero people and zero problem solving skills.
I was of the understanding that it was awarded quarterly. As far as tax reporting it would be taxable if reported but so would certain people's take home vehicles. If they were reported or IRS investigated because they are not reported as they should be.
The money is for active troopers. Santa Cruz is commissioner but a retired trooper captain. He granted him self that money as no other commissioner revived it before but he is and always has been special. I see marshal is getting a nice new ride at mdoc
Kingfish, We would love to see what we, the taxpayers, are purchasing for these troopers to wear. I think another public records request is needed.
Isn't Kenneth Brown the Director of Driver Services?
How many smedium shirts and tight jeans with fancy designs on the pocket will 1k buy?
Wake up people. They are probably required to purchase clothes for UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS. I've heard the commercials about how they are going after AGGRESSIVE truckers who are rear ending troopers in rest areas. A pair of skinny jeans, a tank top, and some pink Chuck Taylors is a small price to pay to save a Troopers A$&.
Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy boots and gear for an officer on a motorcycle. Not sure if the MHP ever rides horseback, but the ones in Jackson who do, furnish their own horses. Every officer wears over $100 in leather and it must be kept in top order. A Garrison hat is almost $100.00. Note: Boots are around $750. and the riding pants are over $100.
How do you feel about an officer being shot? Should they have to replace the uniform on around $1,500.00 take home a month?
Maybe there are abuses at MHP, but the average officer does not have the gear needed. Fingerprinting results in ruined clothes, just as a note.
6:01 It sounds like you need to nut up and put your application in to Trooper School this year. We have the toughest academy in the world. Those who have tried have compared it to BUDs and Green Baret selection. Because of this elite training we are issued all equipment needed for our job including socks and t-shirts. We are even issued new uniforms each year. Our uniforms and cars have been voted best in the nation. Come join us brother.
According to the legislative website the Highway Patrol costs the taxpayers about 100 million dollars a year to run. Here's a novel idea. Give each of the 82 county sheriffs departments a million dollars a year and let them work the wrecks on the highways in their county. The state saves 18 million dollars and a lot of embarrassment.
Why does MS even have a state trooper agency? Why not empower county Sheriff's offices, provide them with radar and the additional funding?
7:14 is a perfect example of someone who drank the kool-aid. MHP training does not make you elite, sorry for the news flash. MHP training hardly aligns one with Teir 1 military assets. 724 and 755 have practical ideas
WOW - 7:14, is this a joke? I assume you're a trooper because you use the word "we;" you're so elite you can't even spell beret correctly...
The reason why the academy in Mississippi is said to be so difficult is because many public safety agencies have abandoned the antiquated and ineffective model that Mississippi still uses, training your cadets to kidney failure and humiliating them does nothing but contribute to an attitude of false elitism that will most certainly be taken out on the public they "serve." Remember the Facebook post by a graduate of the last trooper class where they made disparaging remarks about "civilians?"
A trooper's job is to catch speeders, work wrecks (when they decide to), and support local law enforcement with enhanced capability (SWAT, SOG etc.), apart from special teams, the training should be focused on the core mission areas of the highway patrol. I'm not saying that the academy should lower its standards, but they need to take a hard look at how they deliver that training and how it aligns with the core mission areas of the patrol --- anything extra is unnecessary and wasteful.
And just so you know, nobody gives a rat's ass about how good your cars and uniforms look, and you should buy your own t-shirts and socks - I served 26 years in the military and managed just fine providing plenty of my own load out.
Cruz, Gillard, Myers, McKee, Guin......
"Each was instructed to have allowance spent and cards turned back in to MBI no later than Dec 31, 2016"
Because if we don't spend it we might lose it! I take every opportunity to tell the people who to do that sort of thing it's not your money!
A secretary can write a ticket and drive a car. That is all I have see a trooper in Ms. do. Maybe we should send them to secretarial school and drivers training and put them out on the roads. Couldn't be any worse than the clowns we have now. How much does a pair of big floppy shoes cost?
Equating the bullshit that troopers endure for a shiny new car, a snappy uniform and lifetime job to ANY selection/training process for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 SMU is laughable. Trooper school is all about hazing and harassment; each training phase and evolution in each of the special operations schools teach an identifiable lesson or skill.
I suspect the commenter at 7:14 was being sarcastic, but if not, comparing civilian LEO academies to military training, especially BUD/S or other special forces training, shows a total lack of knowledge of both the substance and purpose of civilian and military training. And no one with knowledge of both would make the comparison.
I think what 7:14 really meant to say is that those who have tried have compared it to boy scouts and girl scouts camp.
MHP Patrol School has the highest attrition rate in the nation for state police academies. That is fact based on what I am told. Now, the question is why is that so? Is this merely hazing that many cannot stomach? Are they learning appreciable skills - making it overtly difficult? Are the troopers on the road better by comparison to trooper in other states with lesser attrition rates? Is MHP running off what would otherwise by great troopers and future leaders "because they had to go through it too"? What is the training staff like, who comprises it and how are they selected? Who runs the training division and is he good at his job? I think all of these questions need to be answered before another patrol school is granted by the legislature. To that end, it seems MHP leadership and the Training Academy staff should have to present a plan to lower attrition (and waste of time and dollars) to the House and Senate.
Do you posters really believe the only people at the Highway Patrol are Troopers. We also have MBI which assists with crime investigations all over the state. There are many working parts to MHP and not everyone wears a Uniform daily.
a small benefit not worth ruining morale over, which is what compensation programs are good at doing. let it alone. no dog in the fight, I by chance am acquainted with 2 on the list.
12:54 - and your point is? Lots of people work for a living and manage to find ways to buy clothes without a gubmint handout.
Super trooper to the rescue. As a law enforcement officer we work 24/7/365 and a highway man does not. So many times I have responded to a wreck in the middle of the night waiting on the trooper to get there. Bottom line is that if you want to be a true LEO you work like we do and not go home at 1:00 a.m.. Also you actually answer calls for service besides a wreck. A trooper has no clue what real police work is actually about.
No one has still answered why leadership getting paid very well needs these allowances.
Post a Comment