Arkansas Highway Police's new boss settles in, lists hiring as priority

Jay Thompson, a 26-year veteran of the Arkansas Highway Police, has been named to lead the agency, which is the law enforcement arm of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Jay Thompson, a 26-year veteran of the Arkansas Highway Police, has been named to lead the agency, which is the law enforcement arm of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Jay Thompson, a 26-year veteran of the Arkansas Highway Police, has been named to lead the agency, which is the law enforcement arm of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Thompson, 49, replaces Ronnie Burks, 62, who retired as chief in March after heading the division for 20 years.

"Major Thompson has done an outstanding job in his years at the AHP and is respected by his peers, both here at the department and throughout the law enforcement community," said Scott Bennett, the department director.

The Arkansas Highway Police enforces the state's size and weight laws for commercial vehicles and monitors them for speeding and other traffic violations.

Thompson was a major and the second-highest-ranking officer behind Burks before his appointment to chief. In that role, among other things, he oversaw the division's oversize/overweight permit section.

He began his new job Monday.

In a brief interview Friday, Thompson said his priority is to fill vacancies within the agency. It has 119 sworn officers but is budgeted to have 208 officers.

"It's been a difficult challenge in finding qualified applicants who want to work for us," Thompson said.

He described the division's enforcement of weight restrictions as a "form of maintenance" for the 16,000 miles of state highways and interstates that the Transportation Department manages. Roadway surfaces deteriorate more quickly when overweight vehicles travel on them, he said.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017, division officers inspected and weighed 40,000 commercial trucks, he said.

"We hope to increase our weight enforcement as our staffing level increases," Thompson said.

Thompson began his law enforcement career in 1987 at 18 when he signed on as a cadet at the Little Rock Police Department. From 1988-90, he worked in the Arkansas Highway Police radio room before becoming a patrol officer for the Pine Bluff Police Department.

He joined the Arkansas Highway Police as a patrol officer in 1992 and subsequently received promotions to patrol officer first class and corporal before transferring to a patrol unit in Benton, where he was promoted to inspector and assigned to the central office.

There, he carried out a variety of administrative duties, including working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Upon promotion to captain, he oversaw day-to-day operations of the permit section before his promotion to major.

Thompson is a board member for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. He served as president of the organization in 2016.

Thompson holds an associate's degree in criminal justice from Pikes Peak Community College in Golden, Colo.

As chief, Thompson will draw an annual salary of $116,116, said Danny Straessle, the department spokesman. His predecessor's annual salary was $121,420.

Metro on 04/21/2018

Upcoming Events