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The Legislature cut the department's budget by 5 percent last year and executive cuts by Gov. Haley Barbour pushed it up to 9 percent, with another trim likely in the next several weeks.
Simpson said he expects the 2011 budget to be 9 percent smaller.
Simpson told The Hattiesburg American editorial board the department has taken various measures to cut costs, including reducing the number of miles each trooper travels monthly in his or her territory from 5,000 to 2,500.
That move will ease the wear and tear on the troopers' vehicles, but will reduce their patrols significantly.
My point is that if they're looking to save money, they should do things in the logistics, maintenance, and administration areas rather than taking troopers off the road.
Smarter operating departments in other states have started using AMSOIL products in their fleets and have seen huge dollar savings.
But then that requires a little out of box thinking and there's not a lot of that happening in MS, especially in our government.
As usual, we don't seem to look outside our state at how other states, particularly those in much better shape that we are, do things.
I'm certain that EVERY other state has state troopers and all those state troopers have to actually drive in order to do their jobs.
The smart states aren't cutting miles driven by their troopers, they're saving money in other areas by using technology such as synthetic oils like AMSOIL to cut their overhead.
For over 35 years, AMSOIL has been producing a motor oil good for 25,000 miles between oil changes with superior wear protection over other motor oils and lubricants.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Wildlife Commission and other departments with lots of vehicles (1000s more than similar MS departments) have converted to AMSOIL products and have realized significant savings in the areas of fuel mileage, reduced maintenance costs and extended equipment life.