{{Short description|U.S. state law enforcement agency}} {{Infobox government agency |agency_name = Department of Public Safety |type = department |logo = Seal of Mississippi (2014).svg |logo_width = 140px |seal_caption = Great Seal of Mississippi |headquarters = 1900 E Woodrow Wilson Ave<br/>Jackson, Mississippi |employees = Approx. 1 400 (2021)<ref name=expansion>{{Cite web |url=https://www.columbianprogress.com/mississippi-dps-expands-police-power-takeover-mdot-capitol-police-city-interstates|title=Mississippi DPS expands police power with takeover of MDOT, Capitol Police, city interstates|publisher=The Columbian Progress|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> |budget = Approx. $147 000 000<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ddtonline.com/state-politics-documents/mississippi-lawmakers-set-fy-2023-budget-extreme-surplus-6250a7f427a8f|title=Mississippi lawmakers set FY 2023 budget with extreme surplus|publisher=The Delta Democrat-Times|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> |chief1_name = Sean Tindell<ref name=splash /> |chief1_position = Commissioner |website = {{URL|https://www.dps.ms.gov/}} |seal=|formed=|jurisdiction=|chief2_name=|chief2_position=|chief3_name=|chief3_position=|chief4_name=|chief4_position=|chief5_name=|chief5_position=|chief6_name=|chief6_position=|chief7_name=|chief7_position=|chief8_name=|chief8_position=|chief9_name=|chief9_position=|parent_department=}} The '''Mississippi Department of Public Safety''' (DPS) is an administrative department of the Government of Mississippi, headquartered in Jackson. It is responsible for the state Highway Patrol (MHP) and commercial vehicle enforcement; specialized investigations and controlled drugs and substances enforcement; issuing driver's licenses and firearms permits; and the state Capitol Police.<ref name=splash>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/|title=Welcome|publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

==Organization== ===Highway Patrol=== [[File:MS state trooper cruiser Walls MS 2012-04-01 001.jpg|thumb|A Mississippi Highway Patrol car in 2012]] The Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP), formerly the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, is led by a director at the rank of colonel. The director also serves as assistant commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.<ref name="Admin" /> The Highway Patrol is responsible for general policing on the Mississippi State Highway System, investigating major incidents through its Bureau of Investigations,<ref name="BOI">{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/investigation|title=Bureau of Investigation|date=19 December 2018 |publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> issuing driver's licenses and firearms permits through its Driver Service Bureau,<ref name="DSB">{{Cite web |url=https://www.driverservicebureau.dps.ms.gov/|title=Driver Service Bureau|publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> and some commercial vehicle enforcement.<ref name="MCSD">{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/highway-patrol/motor-carrier|title=Motor Carrier Safety Division|date=19 December 2018 |publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

====Bureau of Investigations==== The Bureau of Investigations is led by a Lieutenant Colonel of the Highway Safety Patrol, and its membership is composed of officers seconded from the Patrol.<ref name="BOI" /> The Bureau is responsible for assisting local agencies in conducting complex investigations, maintaining the state Criminal Information Centre, investigating cases of human trafficking, inspecting salvage vehicles, operating the state's Victim Assistance Program, and providing executive protection to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House.<ref name="BOI" /> Since 2021, the Bureau has also been responsible for investigating police shootings in the state, with the exception of shootings involving members of the Highway Safety Patrol.<ref name="Names">{{Cite web |url=https://www.mississippifreepress.org/26601/mbi-will-not-release-names-of-mississippi-police-who-shoot-people-negating-transparency-efforts|title=MBI Will Not Release Names of Mississippi Police Who Shoot People, Negating Transparency Efforts|publisher=Mississippi Free Press|author=Kayode Crown|date=23 August 2022 |access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

===Bureau of Narcotics=== The Bureau of Narcotics is an independent DPS agency responsible for enforcing regulations and legislation concerning the "abuse, misuse, sale, and trafficking of controlled substances."<ref name="MBN">{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/narcotics|title=Bureau of Narcotics|date=19 December 2018 |publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> The Bureau is led by a director at the rank of colonel, appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety.<ref name="MBN" />

===Office of Capitol Police=== The Office of Capitol Police is an independent DPS agency responsible for policing the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID), an 8.7 square mile area in Jackson; securing the Bolton state government buildings in Biloxi; and securing the State Service Centre in Hattiesburg.<ref name="OCP">{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/capitol-police|title=Capitol Police|date=15 September 2021 |publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref> [[File:Mississippi State Capitol (54893700836).jpg|thumb|The Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson]] In recent years, the Capitol Police's role expanded from providing security to the Capitol building and other government properties to becoming a second patrolling police force for many neighborhoods of Jackson, which already fall under the jurisdiction with the Jackson Police Department. Citing a want to better address crime in the city, Republicans in the State Legislature put forward HB 1020 to expand the CCID (and therefore the Capitol Police's jurisdiction) and create a separate court system with state-appointed judges and prosecutors.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crown |first=Kayode |date=January 27, 2023 |title=White Mississippi Officials Would Appoint Courts, Bypassing Black Jackson Judges Under Bill |url=https://mississippifreepress.org/white-mississippi-officials-would-appoint-courts-bypassing-black-jackson-judges-under-bill/ |work=Mississippi Free Press |location=Jackson, MS |publisher=Mississippi Journalism and Education Group |access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref> Democrat Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba responded that the law was "an attack on Black leadership in every form",<ref>{{cite news |last=Crown |first=Kayode |date=February 23, 2023 |title=Lumumba: New H.B. 1020 Is ‘Attack on Black Leadership’; Will Not Sign Forced MOU |url=https://www.mississippifreepress.org/lumumba-new-h-b-1020-is-attack-on-black-leadership-will-not-sign-forced-mou/ |work=Mississippi Free Press |location=Jackson, MS |publisher=Mississippi Journalism and Education Group |access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref> and an example of "apartheid" given that those appointing policing and judicial officials for the CCID are white and most residents of Jackson are Black.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tolan |first=Casey |date=February 27, 2023 |title=A proposed ‘takeover’ has sparked a battle for power in one of America’s Blackest big cities |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/us/jackson-mississippi-capitol-criminal-justice-invs/index.html |work=CNN |access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref> In the first few months after starting its expanded patrols, Capitol Police officers had shot four people. In response to the outcry, the department updated its use of force policies which had not been reviewed since 2006—when the department still mostly functioned as building security for state government offices.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schuppe |first=Jon |last2=Harris |first2=Bracey |date=March 3, 2023 |title=The Mississippi Capitol Police, under fire for a string of shootings, is rewriting its rules on force |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mississippi-capitol-police-shootings-use-force-policy-rcna72802 |work=NBC News |access-date=January 10, 2025}}</ref>

==History== The position of "Commissioner of Public Safety" was first created in 1938, with the establishment of the MHP.<ref name=Admin>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dps.ms.gov/administration|title=Administration|date=19 December 2018 |publisher=Mississippi Department of Public Safety|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> [[File:Mississippi KKK Conspiracy Murders June 21 1964 CORE Ford Station Wagon Location.jpg|left|thumb|The location of the abandoned car near Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner's burials in 1964, that an MHP officer disclosed to the FBI]]

=== Relationship with Black people and civil rights advocates === {{Further|Ku Klux Klan members in United States politics}} On June 21, 1964, in Neshoba County, the White Knights chapter of the Ku Klux Klan murdered James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, activists for Black civil rights. The Klansmen hid their bodies in a rural, wooded area; an MHP officer, Maynard King, somehow knew the location, and anonymously gave it to the investigating FBI. After the murders, Mississippi governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. fired two MHP officers for being Klan members, and MHP began to document Klan activities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2026-03-24 |title=Ku Klux Klan items are found as Mississippi Department of Public Safety packs to move - Mississippi Today |url=https://mississippitoday.org/2026/03/24/klan-items-mississippi-department-of-public-safety/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=mississippitoday.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Murder in Mississippi |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedomsummer-murder/ |access-date=March 24, 2026 |website=PBS}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-04 |title='It shocked white middle America': How the Mississippi Burning murders sparked landmark change in the US |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250731-how-the-mississippi-burning-murders-sparked-landmark-change-in-the-us |access-date=2026-03-25 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

1960s-era items belonging to a Klan member or members were found in a closet in the DPS' headquarters in 2026. This included Klan propaganda; meeting notes; ledgers; recruitment materials; a list of various Klan members; a Klan outfit; charters of multiple chapters, including the White Knights; a "Kloran" for White Knights members, detailing the chapter's surveillance of Black people, especially Black voters; and newspaper clippings about the Freedom Riders, the DPS itself, and then-DPS Commissioner T.B. Birdsong. After these were found, DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell said that the DPS had "worked for decades with our federal law enforcement partners to shed light [on] groups like the Ku Klux Klan". The items were sent to the Mississippi state archives.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Troth |first=Abigail |date=2026-03-24 |title=Recently discovered 1960s-era KKK materials transferred to Mississippi archives |url=https://www.wdam.com/2026/03/24/recently-discovered-1960s-era-kkk-materials-transferred-mississippi-archives/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=www.wdam.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=WXXV |date=2026-03-24 |title=Mississippi Dept. of Public safety transfers KKK artifacts to Dept. of Archives and History |url=https://www.wxxv25.com/mississippi-dept-of-public-safety-transfers-kkk-artifacts-to-dept-of-archives-and-history/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=WXXV News 25 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 federally banned many forms of employment discrimination in the U.S. Years later, two Black men applied to become MHP officers: Willie Morrow and Jerome Magnum. They were denied the positions because they were Black, leading to civil rights Constance Slaugher-Harvey suing the DPS in 1970 for discrimination. A court found in 1972 that the DPS had engaged in "some" discrimination, and the DPS was forced to allow Black people to join the MHP. Later that year, three Black men integrated the MHP: Lewis Younger, R.O. Williams, and Walter Crosby.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Quentin |date=2022-02-23 |title=2022 marks 50 years since three African American men integrated the Mississippi Highway Patrol |url=https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/23/2022-marks-50-years-since-three-african-american-men-integrated-mississippi-highway-patrol/ |access-date=2026-03-25 |website=WLBT3 |language=en}}</ref> [[File:Old-Glory-Jackson-State-May-1970.jpg|thumb|331x331px|A U.S. flag draped out of a window at Jackson State University's Alexander Hall, after it was broken during the 1970 Jackson State killings]] In early 1970, there had been tensions between students at Jackson State College (later named Jackson State University), a historically black school, and some White residents who commuted to work along Jackson city's Lynch Street, who were getting into altercations with Black students at an intersection of the street next to Jackson State's Alexander Hall. On May 15, 1970, MHP officers and Jackson Police Department officers shot at a group of Black students at Alexander Hall, injuring several and killing two: Jackson State student Phillips Gibbs, and high school student James Green.<ref>{{Cite web |title=May 1970, Student-led Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement: A KSU Alternative Winter Break Experience {{!}} Alumni and Giving |url=https://www.kent.edu/alumni-and-giving/news/may-1970-student-led-collective-action-and-civil-rights-movement-ksu |access-date=2026-03-25 |website=www.kent.edu |language=en}}</ref>

Robert Fair, a Black man, claimed in a 2023 piece for the ''Jackson Advocate'' that while he lived near Edwards, Hinds County, in the early 1970s, MHP officers would sometimes set up roadblocks on State Highway 22 around Edwards, to let White drivers pass through, and then stop Black drivers to harass them. Fair wrote that during one of these incidents in 1971, the officers beat him and other Black men, while calling them "nigger". Amidst this, an officer allegedly threatened to shoot him in the head. Fair claimed that after the Black men were arrested, one of the officers asked another: "What are we going to charge these niggers with?", then charged many or all of them with reckless driving.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Service |first=Jackson Advocate News |date=2023-05-22 |title=An open letter to Mississippi Highway Patrol officers who harassed Blacks in 1971 |url=https://jacksonadvocateonline.com/an-open-letter-to-mississippi-highway-patrol-officers-who-harassed-blacks-in-1971/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=Jackson Advocate |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== 1971 expansion === The Department expanded in the early 1970s, when the Bureau of Narcotics was established in 1971 to conduct specialized enforcement and carry out investigations into the abuse, trafficking, manufacturing, and mishandling of controlled substances.<ref name="MBN" /> Initially under the control of the State Board of Health, the Bureau of Narcotics was transferred over to the control of the Department of Public Safety in 1972.<ref name="MBNhistory">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/84826NCJRS.pdf|title=Performance Evaluation of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics|author= G E Neasman; H A Brown; L G Marlow|publisher=National Institute of Justice|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

=== 2021 expansion === In 2021, the Department expanded again, absorbing the Department of Transportation's enforcement division, which became the DPS' Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division and the Department of Finance and Administration's Capitol Police Office.<ref name="expansion" /> The expansion also adjusted the duties of some DPS divisions: the Bureau of Investigation became responsible for investigating all police-involved shootings (excluding those involving a member of the Highway Safety Patrol); members of the Highway Safety Patrol became responsible for conducting speed enforcement operations and running radar on interstate highways within large cities;<ref name="expansion" /> and the Office of Capitol Police's patrol area grew to include not just state government buildings but an 8.7 square mile swath of land including downtown Jackson, Jackson State University, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and residential and commercial neighborhoods including a portion of Fondren, a "trendy enclave with a popular restaurant scene."<ref name="expansionNBCcontro1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mississippi-capitol-police-jackson-shootings-rcna70474|title=Mississippi wants to expand an aggressive police force responsible for recent shootings|author=Bracey Harris and Jon Schuppe|date=25 February 2023 |publisher=NBC News|access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref> Within this expanded patrol area, the Capitol Police acted as a force multiplier for the municipal Jackson Police Department, which had experienced prolonged staffing shortages.<ref name="expansionNBCcontro1" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Portal|Mississippi}} * [http://www.dps.state.ms.us/ Mississippi Department of Public Safety]

{{authority control}}

Category:State agencies of Mississippi