Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell is calling for a pay raise for Mississippi state troopers.
Tindell, in a Wednesday appearance on Mornings with Richard Cross, said he advocated for upped compensation for state troopers during the most recent legislative session, but was ultimately unsuccessful in getting lawmakers to approve to his request.
State troopers in Mississippi make a base salary of $54,000 annually – the lowest in the U.S., Tindell said, citing a report from USA Facts.
With that in mind, the commissioner has made it his mission to push lawmakers to raise the minimum salary for state troopers to $60,000 a year. This push will continue into the 2027 legislative session, which will kick off in January. Tindell, a former member of the Mississippi Senate, believes his prior experience in the legislature positions him nicely to convince lawmakers to approve the pay increase.
“That was one of the big things on our agenda. We did not get the pay raise that we sought for our state troopers, but we’re going to make that effort again next year,” Tindell said.
“With my experience in the legislature, I know that you don’t always get what you want. Sometimes you gotta come back the next year and explain and do a little bit better of a job working individuals through it,” Tindell continued. “There’s always pushback against the things that you believe are important that would be helpful.”
Tindell’s justification for requesting more money for troopers stems from the extensive role the law enforcement officers play in everyday life. While, on the surface, it may appear that these individuals exist to patrol highways and interstates and write tickets, the commissioner noted that they do much more.
“When we talk to young individuals, they just don’t want to deal with all the headaches of being a law enforcement officer,” Tindell said. “And there really is a lot of responsibility. We think back 20-30 years ago, at the role of a law enforcement officer, and every year we seem to expand it.
“Law enforcement officers have to be mental health therapists, dealing with people who have mental health issues. They show up to domestic calls, and they have to be marriage therapists. Then, they have to learn to be constitutional scholars.”
Currently, the number of state troopers in Mississippi is approximately 500 – well under the 650 maximum. Tindell is hopeful that, if a pay raise is greenlit, the state would be in a better spot to increase the number of troopers.
“We’re going to go a period of time where we don’t have quite as many retirements and we’ll be able to get those numbers up where I think they need to be, closer to 600,” Tindell said, adding that a pay raise would surely help.
