Highway Patrol Pay To Be Probed

A special legislative committee will be investigating Missouri Highway Patrol pay. The budget committee chairmen in the Senate and House agreed to call for the review after rejecting attempts to raise patrol pay this year. Representative Bob Behnen of Kirksville says the state must address patrol pay or lose even more troopers to city police forces. A first-year trooper makes about $32,000 a year. Behnen and others say better pay on police forces, especially in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, is too attractive for troopers to turn down. State budget problems have kept state worker pay down for the past two years.