Lawmaker pushes to split highway and water patrol divisions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri legislator has filed a bill to reverse the 2011 merger of the state's water patrol division and the highway patrol.

State Rep. Diane Franklin argued separating the two divisions would restore the public's trust in the water patrol and improve public safety on Missouri waterways.

"I think it's going to be hard, a difficult thing to do," Franklin said Monday. "But it's the right thing to do. ... We need to return to the days of a focused water patrol mission that is fully devoted and passionate for the water and law enforcement."

The Kansas City Star reported the announcement comes two weeks after a patrol trooper was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the May 2014 drowning death of Brandon Ellingson. The Iowan was handcuffed when he fell from a patrol boat into the Lake of the Ozarks. The trooper later said at a coroner's inquest he, an 18-year road trooper, hadn't been trained for what he encountered on the water that day.

The patrol's marine operations have been under scrutiny since Ellingson's death.

A special House committee chaired by Franklin studied the merger in 2014 and released a report last January calling on the state to correct flaws created by the move.

Rep. Don Philips, a retired trooper and co-chairman of the special committee, has maintained there was a lack of consistency in operations after the merger, especially in training.

The merger was originally championed by Gov. Jay Nixon as a way to save money.

Efforts to reach the governor's office for comment were not immediately successful. Capt. John Hotz, a patrol spokesman, said the highway patrol doesn't comment on proposed legislation.

The proposed legislation would remove from the highway patrol all the administrative functions, facilities and equipment used by the water-patrol division.

The administrative structure would go back to the way it was in 2010, before the merger.

The proposal doesn't include an estimated cost, but that will come soon, Franklin said.

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com