(Photo from Sean Tindell Facebook)
- The Mississippi Department of Public Safety will begin consolidating its 11 units into 4 come July. See how the new state agency will be structured.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety is scheduled to consolidate its offices in July, pending the signature of Governor Tate Reeves (R).
The department has been examining consolidating its eleven units down to four for some time, DPS Public Relations Specialist Bailey Martin told Magnolia Tribune earlier this week.
DPS believes the consolidation will strengthen intelligence sharing and create a force multiplier across Mississippi, enabling more strategic collaboration within each unit’s public safety specialty.
The department spokesperson said the consolidation would result in cost savings for Mississippians.
“The agency will now utilize the same procurement processes for all its divisions and be able to secure better contracts from vendors. In addition, in the long term, the agency should be able to reduce the size of its administrative positions and, in doing so provide better salaries and equipment for its front-line workers,” Martin said.
When lawmakers were considering the bills, DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell told a Senate committee that the agency is “spending a lot on different pieces of equipment that we could jointly buy and have one piece of equipment.”
“So, the goal is consolidation and cost saving. Also, to help agents in the field to have a single chain of command,” Tindell said.
Under the restructuring put forward through HB 1612, the first unit will be the Mississippi State Patrol, which would include the uniformed divisions of DPS, comprising the Highway Patrol, the Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division, and the Capitol Police.
The second unit will be the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which would be the investigative and forensic divisions of the department. This unit would include the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, the Bureau of Narcotics, the Bureau of Homeland Security, and the Bureau of Forensics, which is the Forensic Lab and Medical Examiner’s Office.
The third unit is to be the Mississippi Law Enforcement Division, comprising Public Safety and Planning, the Driver Services Bureau, the Office of Standards and Training, and the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy.
The fourth and final unit will be Support Services, comprising human resources, legal, procurement, and budget.
In an earlier interview, Tindell said the consolidation is not expected to result in any job losses.
When the restructuring is completed near the end of 2027, all DPS divisions will be housed in one building for the first time at the department’s new headquarters.
“The timing is ideal to formalize this structure in statute,” Martin said.
During the legislative session, a Senate bill – SB 2817 – sought to consolidate DPS from eleven units to seven as part of efforts supported by Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) to restructure state government in hopes of achieving cost savings. That bill died in the House while HB 1612 made its way through the process and is now on the governor’s desk. The conference report for the House bill received one ‘no’ vote in the House and two ‘no’ votes in the Senate.
Lt. Governor Hosemann noted during his end-of-session press conference last week that DPS was the only state agency that had consolidation plans approved this session.
Daniel Tyson
