DPS and Highway Patrol budget preview: World Cup federal grants, counter-drone staff and crime-lab hires
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Summary
Department of Public Safety briefed the House Budget Committee on FY27 items including FEMA funding tied to Kansas City 2026 (World Cup) host-city costs, counter-drone staffing, fleet and vehicle cost pressures, and requests for additional troopers and crime-lab staff under the governor's —Safer Missouri' initiative.
The Department of Public Safety presented an overview of its FY27 budget and multiple new-decision items tied to event support and public-safety capacity. Budget director Angie Giddings told the committee that FEMA designated large transfers to World Cup host cities (a noted $59 million referenced for Kansas City) and that DPS expects to deploy some of that funding to support highway patrol and Kansas City Police Department operations at the event.
DPS requested counter-drone and related staff to support large events and to carry forward a number of —Safer Missouri' initiative positions for the Highway Patrol. Superintendent Mike Turner described a governor's proposal to add 36 Patrol FTE (15 troopers and 21 civilian staff) across the agency and NDIs for 10 additional criminal investigators, digital-forensics center support and seven crime-lab hires to reduce forensic turnaround times.
Committee members focused questions on how new-decision-item costs are distributed across different budget "cores" (enforcement, fleet, vehicles and technical services) and asked for line-item crosswalks that show PS and E&E components. Highway Patrol staff explained that vehicle purchases, fuel and maintenance live in a fleet core while personnel costs and operating expenses for troopers are recorded in enforcement cores; that separation causes some NDIs to appear distributed across multiple pages.
On fleet matters, members were told vehicle prices have risen sharply since 2017 (example figures cited: 2017 Charger ~$22,666; 2026 Durango police package ~$42,881; Ford utility ~$46,278). The Patrol said it is consolidating fleet purchasing and maintenance into a single core to better manage fuel, maintenance and replacement cycles and to improve resale outcomes. The Patrol also described changing replacement-mileage targets (Durango ~65,000 miles) and noted lead times on armored-vehicle procurement.
For forensic capacity, Patrol and lab officials said the new Jefferson City crime lab will enable more staff and equipment; an NDI to fund the move and equipment was described alongside a request for additional FTE to cut backlog and toxicology turnaround times. Hiring and training timelines mean improvements will be gradual (some positions take years to certify).
