The Kansas Highway Patrol is preparing for its largest training class ever. This summer, 45 recruits will begin training to become state troopers. Superintendent Mark Bruce says the Highway Patrol has been struggling with a shortage of troopers.
The patrol developed a new salary structure and a recruiting system to help attract more applicants, but lacked the money to pay for new recruits. Bruce says a new $2 fee on vehicle registrations approved by lawmakers now makes it possible to hire more troopers.
“There’s typically about 2.7 million registrations that are renewed or acquired in a particular year. That’ll generate the $5.4 million that allows us to add to the numbers,” Bruce says.
Bruce says it will take about a year to get the newly trained troopers out on patrol. He hopes to have more than 50 new troopers added to the ranks by next summer.