Investigative panel to study effects of water patrol merger

House Speaker Tim Jones last week announced the formation of a bipartisan committee to investigate the operations of the state's water patrol division in the wake of the May death of a handcuffed man who was in the custody of a trooper.

The committee was formed at the request of lake area Representatives Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, Rocky Miller, R-Tuscumbia, and David Wood, R-Gravois Mills.

The Water Patrol's merger with the state Highway Patrol was completed on Jan. 1, 2011, after House Bill 1868 was passed by the General Assembly in May 2010. As he signed the bill into law, Gov. Jay Nixon said the merger would save the state some $3 million annually.

Frankin said an investigation is needed to determine how well the merger of the Highway Patrol and Water Patrol is working.

The man who drowned last May - 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson, a college student - had been arrested on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. At a hearing on the death earlier this month, the arresting officer, Trooper Anthony Piercy, said he had not been trained on how to properly put a life vest on a handcuffed prisoner.

Witnesses to the drowning said Ellingson did not have his arms through the armholes of the life jacket that Piercy had put on him and that the jacket came off when Ellingson fell or jumped from the trooper's boat.

Following that hearing, a coroner's jury ruled Ellingson's death as accidental, and Special Prosecutor Amanda Grellner of Osage County declined to pursue charges against Piercy.

Franklin said the drowning was a "compelling" reason for the formation of the investigating committee, but it wasn't the only reason.

She said the committee also would seek the amount and type of training troopers are required to have before they are allowed to patrol the state's waterways.

"You know before the merger, the Missouri State Water Patrol was considered one of the best trained law enforcement agencies in the nation," Franklin said. "Back then, our water patrol officers were called on to train other water-based law enforcement agencies around the country. Are they (troopers) still getting that kind of training before they are sent out in a boat?

"That's something we don't know, and we need to find out."

In addition, Franklin said the committee will be looking into how much money the state has saved since the two agencies were merged three years ago.

In a news release last week, Jones said, "We were told by the governor when he made the merger a priority that it would save the state millions while making the patrol even more effective in carrying out its duties.

"However, we now have to question whether this merger has put our hard-working patrol officers in a position where they effectively maintain the public's safety on our waterways."

Franklin, who will chair the investigative committee, said she hasn't spoken with either water-based or highway-based patrol officers "in weeks," but she would like to hear from "any of them that are willing to discuss how the investigation should proceed."

"I hope the Highway Patrol and Water Patrol are brainstorming right now and will let us know how they feel we should go forward," Franklin said. "We definitely want their input."

Franklin said the committee will hold a series of meetings at various locations around the state, including at least one in the lake area.

The committee is made up of all three lake area state representatives, as well as state Representatives Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City, a retired Highway Patrol officer, and Marsha Haefner, R-St. Louis.