MSHP Zones

[N2JDS]

Can anyone explain why they multiples zones for the same area, but divided between AM and PM?

Zone 1= St. Louis City (12pm - 12am)
Zone 2= St. Louis City (12am - 12pm)
Zone 3= St. Louis County (12pm - 12am)
Zone 4= St. Louis County (12am - 12pm)
Zone 5= Lincoln & Pike County (6am - 3am) (NO Trooper on Duty between 3am-6am)
Zone 6= CUT DUE TO MAN POWER AND BUDGET CUTS
Zone 7= Warren County (6am - 3am) (NO Trooper on Duty between 3am-6am)
Zone 8= St. Charles County (12pm - 12am)
Zone 9= St. Charles County (12am - 12pm)
Zone 10= Franklin County (12pm - 12am)
Zone 11= Franklin County (12am - 12pm)
Zone 12= Jefferson County (12pm - 12am)
Zone 13= Jefferson County (12am - 12pm)
Zone 14= Washington County (6am - 3am) (NO Trooper on Duty between 3am-6am)
Zone 15= St. Francois County (6am - 3am) (NO Trooper on Duty between 3am-6am)
Zone 16= Ste. Genevieve & Perry County (6am - 3am) (NO Trooper on Duty betwen 3-6)

 

[trainerman]

They are the hours that a trooper or troopers are on duty. In bigger zones/counties there is always a trooper(s) on duty...hence the 12 am to 12 pm. In rural zones and counties troopers are not on 24/7. Usually until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights and only until midnight the rest of the week. Money shortfalls unfortunately. It has always blown my mind that the MSHP doesn't have a car or cars on duty 24/7 in most, if not all counties sadly.

 

[N2JDS]

They are the hours that a trooper or troopers are on duty. In bigger zones/counties there is always a trooper(s) on duty...hence the 12 am to 12 pm. In rural zones and counties troopers are not on 24/7. .

I underestand the part of WHEN they are staffed, that part is evident by the times listed, but why call the same area Zone 1 and Zone 2. Quite often I hear dispatch advising officers in certain zones of information, but it seems odd that you'd use zone 1 or 2 to just be referring to a certain time of the day.

 

[mjthomas59]

In the monitoring that i've done of the MSHP i think the only issue with that chart is that each zone is not broken down into 12a-12p. I've heard zone 8 said during the night and also during the day from time to time. My guess is that it designates a group or squad of guys and is used to assist in scheduling and frontline supervision.

Just a guess though, maybe somone else with firsthand knowledge can tell you more. What I do is that troopers work 8hr days and rotate from mornings to evenings to overnights every 2 weeks.

As far as the 24/7 coverage is concerned in every county, truthfully it isn't needed most nights. Although the "need" isnt what seems to drive the schedule, its more like manpower. Missouri is the only the state left that is still hiring Troopers, and in this economy they wouldn't be hiring them if they didn't need them.

 

[zzdiesel]

They call our areas here in the Bootheel Zones 9 & 10 at any time of day or night.

 

[flhays]

I think they call them split zones. St. Louis city will have a Sgt, a corporal or two and and a bunch of troopers, in Zone one and another Sgt., a corporal or two and a bunch of troopers in Zone two, all working the same area. One zone primarily works the day hours and the other will work the night hours. How they rotate between the nights and days and over lap of shifts is decided by someone, the troop commander probably, and it could be every two weeks, every 28 days or whenever. Helps with administrative problems knowing which Sgt, corporal or trooper is in which zone for paper work etc.. This is in the metro areas primarily. The rural zones do not have the 24 hr coverage.

 

[trainerman]

In the monitoring that i've done of the MSHP i think the only issue with that chart is that each zone is not broken down into 12a-12p. I've heard zone 8 said during the night and also during the day from time to time. My guess is that it designates a group or squad of guys and is used to assist in scheduling and frontline supervision.

Just a guess though, maybe somone else with firsthand knowledge can tell you more. What I do is that troopers work 8hr days and rotate from mornings to evenings to overnights every 2 weeks.

As far as the 24/7 coverage is concerned in every county, truthfully it isn't needed most nights. Although the "need" isnt what seems to drive the schedule, its more like manpower. Missouri is the only the state left that is still hiring Troopers, and in this economy they wouldn't be hiring them if they didn't need them.

Unfortunately, "the need" is there most nights. In my county after midnight when the 1 or 2 troopers go off duty that leaves only 1 sheriff's department deputy to cover the whole county. There is no way that 1 deputy can effectively cover the whole county, at least 1 trooper would help. It's not like there is an absence of crime in the overnight. In fact, that is when most of the crime happens. Especially crimes involving farm theft of meth making supplies.

 

[zzdiesel]

It's the same way here in my county except all of the deputies usually get off by 3:00. Sometimes the county will send an officer from one of the smaller towns on emergency till a deputy or trooper is called out and can get there.

 

[iamhere300]

No offense to anyone - but only having one deputy after a certain hour is no reason to have a trooper in that zone 24 hours, it is a reason for your county to hire more deputies.

And yes, I am PAINFULLY aware of the limited budgets in southern and southeastern MO, but the responsibility for that county resides with the residents of that county and their elected officials.

 

[mjthomas59]

Even in the more populated counties, there isn't a tremendous need for a scheduled Trooper 24/7. That isn't to say that crime doesn't happen, or that DWI's and traffic violations couldn't be written... but the primary responsibility given to the MSHP is to work traffic crashes, and then prevent future(or as many) traffic crashes from occurring through enforcement of traffic laws. That being said, where I work, we rely on the MSHP to work all serious injury accidents. So for that reason even when a trooper isn't scheduled that doesn't mean that 1 isn't on call to come out if we need them.

Either way you also run into issues of "deputizing" Troopers, where some counties do others do not. We don't live in Illinois where there is a "State Police" we live in Missouri where we have "Highway Patrol", and thus by statute their jurisdiction is limited.

That isn't to short change the thought that having 1 LEO working an entire county isn't good for anyone, and I suppose the thought process would be to have 1 LEO funded by county govt the other by State govt to help with the budget, but ideally at least 2 would be funded by county. But in all honesty, if anywhere can get away with having only 1 guy then you really have to question how much crime really does occur. In todays age of doing a police report on every call you go to, I wouldn't foresee that 1 deputy being able to keep up if there truly was a high call volume. The 1 perk of working in rural counties though is that people handle their own stupidness, where the more populated areas make calls for service on just about anything.

 

[scanman1958]

MOHP Zones

In a very unofficial listing I made some time ago I wrote down the "area" that was being refenced to by the dispatcher on the radio. He made have said (something like) "Attention officers Zone -insert zone- C&I driver westbound-insert hwy-make your own case." I never saw zones overlap and it (to me) seemed the zones were always in reference to an "area". It seemed to me to work OK. Again this is unofficial and just some food for thought.

 

[MSHPW179]

In a very unofficial listing I made some time ago I wrote down the "area" that was being refenced to by the dispatcher on the radio. He made have said (something like) "Attention officers Zone -insert zone- C&I driver westbound-insert hwy-make your own case." I never saw zones overlap and it (to me) seemed the zones were always in reference to an "area". It seemed to me to work OK. Again this is unofficial and just some food for thought.

Normally two zones are assigned to a specific patrol area. They rotate as to which zone will be working days and which one will be working evenings and midnights. That's why you hear: "Attention Weldon Springs officers, officers zone (number) report of a ..." It all depends on which zone is working at the
all points bulletin goes out.

 

[nicknen]

TO: mjthomas59 - I would be very interested in reading the statute you reference " Missouri where we have "Highway Patrol", and thus by statute their jurisdiction is limited."

My understanding is the Missouri State Highway Patrol has statewide jurisdiction. The MSHP has their own DDCC (Division of Drug and Crime Control) whose members seldom, if ever, deal with "Highways"; they have the Gaming enforcement troopers, they have governors detail - well, you get the picture.

As MSHPW179 referenced above:

As far as Zones are concerned: in high population areas (therefore higher number of troopers) an area may be assigned two sergeants, each with their own compliment of troopers. Each group is assigned a Zone number. In areas of lesser populations there is only one sergeant, therefore one Zone number.
Some Zones contain an entire county plus part of another, some just a county and then some as part of two counties but neither in its entirety.

 

[stlouisx50]

Just for further information. When you hear them mention "Zone Office" they are referring to being at a MODOT building. Such as MODOT maintenance sheds.

 

[RF23]

Speaking of MODOT, I assume that the MOHP still have the authority to close highways during snow/ice events and not the MODOT. Is this true? It seems what I have been hearing on MOSWIN would suggest it is.

I lived in Fayetteville AR for about 8 years (in the 1970s) and the AR DOT had that authority then and it was really bad when the Sheriffs and HP units both were asking for the roads to be closed and AR DOT would refuse since it did not meet their criteria for closure.

The SO and HP just could not keep up with all the accidents.

 

[dfbarnes]

Also speaking of MODOT, if you're in the Kansas City area and scan while mobile, the MODOT KC Scout motorist assist and incident response units operate on MARRS, with these talkgroups:

Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) Talkgroups

DEC HEX Mode Alpha Tag Description Tag
35900 8c3c D MO DOT 1 MO DOT 1 - Motorist Assist Dispatch Public Works
35901 8c3d D MO DOT 2 MO DOT 2 - Motorist Assist Talkaround Public Works


That's about the most up-to-date traffic advice you can possibly get, and MO DOT 1 should definitely be in your scan list if you motor around in KC much.

 

[stlouisx50]

Speaking of MODOT, I assume that the MOHP still have the authority to close highways during snow/ice events and not the MODOT. Is this true? It seems what I have been hearing on MOSWIN would suggest it is.

I lived in Fayetteville AR for about 8 years (in the 1970s) and the AR DOT had that authority then and it was really bad when the Sheriffs and HP units both were asking for the roads to be closed and AR DOT would refuse since it did not meet their criteria for closure.

The SO and HP just could not keep up with all the accidents.

Yes the mshp can close a highway but so can any other law enforcement agency or fire department if needed.

 

[WX5JCH]

We have a security guard that walks around downtown at night don't even have a gun or radio he's all alone. Had one killed about 15 years ago named a street after him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RF23]

Yes the mshp can close a highway but so can any other law enforcement agency or fire department if needed.

I agree but I think that would probably be for an incident and not closing a state highway or the interstate for 50 or 100 miles (due to snow and or ice). At least this was what I heard at the time that AR DOT had to have certain conditions to do that regardless of the problems the public safety people had. Around 11:00 PM one night Troop L in Springdale Arkansas was not bashful in letting their officers know that if they were in Missouri they would have the authority to close the state highway not DOT. Of course I was getting only what the scanner was putting out and it was a long time ago.

I just retired from almost 30 years in western North Dakota to Missouri and either one could close the interstate or state highway. In fact on several occasions the blizzards would trap DOT and the HP on the road for a day or two, so it was sort of self-closing - no one was going anywhere.

Thanks for the reply but it is good to know that in Missouri the Public safety people can control the highway traffic if needed.

 

[stlouisx50]

I agree but I think that would probably be for an incident and not closing a state highway or the interstate for 50 or 100 miles (due to snow and or ice). At least this was what I heard at the time that AR DOT had to have certain conditions to do that regardless of the problems the public safety people had. Around 11:00 PM one night Troop L in Springdale Arkansas was not bashful in letting their officers know that if they were in Missouri they would have the authority to close the state highway not DOT. Of course I was getting only what the scanner was putting out and it was a long time ago.

I just retired from almost 30 years in western North Dakota to Missouri and either one could close the interstate or state highway. In fact on several occasions the blizzards would trap DOT and the HP on the road for a day or two, so it was sort of self-closing - no one was going anywhere.

Thanks for the reply but it is good to know that in Missouri the Public safety people can control the highway traffic if needed.

No they will close it if the road becomes to hazardous or impassable.