In a message to Springfield business leaders, consolidation of Missouri State Water Patrol and Missouri State Highway Patrol into one agency is one proposal being offered to address a $500 million state budget deficit.
An excerpt from the Gov. Jay Nixon's speech:
State law enforcement can be made more efficient as well. Missouri has one full-time agency that enforces state laws on our highways 365 days a year, and an entirely separate agency that enforces state laws on our waterways.
We need to consolidate the Highway Patrol and the Water Patrol, so that our dedicated law enforcement agents can provide the citizens of Missouri with seamless protection, whether they’re traveling our highways or floating our lakes and streams. We can achieve these administrative efficiencies while maintaining the full force on our roads and our waterways.
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**Editor's Note: The original version of this story contained an error and has since been corrected - "Missouri State Water Patrol" was repeated twice in the first sentence. We apologize for the error and confusion.
