(12/13/03)A new class of highway patrol troopers has graduated from the state training academy, but none has been assigned to Warren or any surrounding county.

This month’s graduating class added 41 troopers to the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, bringing the statewide total to 551.

The class was the first to graduate in three years.

The MHP typically loses about 20 troopers a year to attrition, spokesman Warren Strain said. Trooper assignments are allocated among the eight statewide districts based on such factors as area roads’ traffic loads, Strain added.

The MHP’s District 1 encompasses Claiborne, Warren, Issaquena, Sharkey, Yazoo, Madison, Rankin, Simpson, Copiah and Hinds counties. No additional trooper was assigned to patrol the roads in a District 1 county, Strain said.

Each trooper is assigned a county in which to live, but patrols may include other areas, Strain said.

“They are assigned to a particular run in a county day-to-day but can be called to work wrecks in other counties in the district,” Strain said.

Troopers are generally expected to be in positions to respond to wrecks on roads where they have primary responsibility within 15 to 30 minutes, Strain said.

A situation in which a trooper would be needed in one county and the nearest trooper would be farther away than an adjacent county would be considered extraordinary, Strain said.

With this month’s graduation, the MHP is 99 officers short of its authorized strength.

The class completed 18 weeks of classroom instruction and training in physical fitness, firearms and emergency operations at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy in Pearl.

The newly commissioned troopers will be assigned a field training officer for nine weeks of observation and monitoring before being allowed to work alone.

One of the graduating troopers, Kenneth M. Tarleton, was a Port Gibson Police officer for more than five years before joining the MHP.

Port Gibson Police Chief Calvin Jackson said he had been considering candidates to replace Tarleton. The PGPD has about eight full-time and three reserve officers, Jackson said.