Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Luke Harrington of Summitsaid he’d never been a model before he went to Las Vegasrecently.

Harrington was one of four representatives from the state torepresent MHP for their distinction as the “Best-Dressed PublicSafety Award” at the North American Association of UniformManufacturers and Distributors meeting in late April.

The fact that they had the best-looking uniforms not only in theUSA, but in all of North America, was something that troopersalready could have guessed, Harrington said. It was simply a secretwell kept from the rest of the world.

But not anymore.

“We said it for a long time,” Harrington said. “I guess we’vealways known that but now everyone else does.”

Harrington made the trip with MHP Col. Mike Berthay and TrooperCharles Haynes of Troop C, which is based in Jackson, andMississippi Trooper Magazine editor Donna Echols. They arrived inLas Vegas on Friday, April 24.

“The ceremony was Saturday morning, they had like a brunch, andthey presented the awards and took pictures,” Harrington said.”Then I suppose you’d say we modeled for the Expo.”

Berthay said he was pleased with MHP’s showing, and was gratefulthat his men and women would take the time to participate.

“A tremendous amount of work went into this effort to get theright image to win this title,” he said. “A very special thank yougoes out to all troopers who participated in the two photo sessionsat the Capitol earlier this year. You clearly represented uswell.”

MHP tied for first place with the defending champion for theaward, the Washington State Police, but that is quite adistinction, said Troop M Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Rusty Boyd.He helped arrange the photo shoots in front of the Capitol inJackson to provide the photos that garnered the highway patrol thehonor.

“We picked five people from every unit,” Boyd said, saying thatincluded five of each wearing the dress uniform, the everyday roaduniform, and the uniforms worn by the Travel Criminal ApprehensionProgram officers, the Honor Guard, the motor carriers, K-9officers, the Special Operations Group unit, and Highway Patrolpilots. Boyd said there were even some photos taken with the K-9sinvolved.

And they just squeaked their entry in under the wire, Boydsaid.

“The competition started in November of last year, and weweren’t aware of it until the information was given to us inJanuary,” he said. “The first photo shoot we did was January 25,and then we went back in February to re-shoot some of them.”

The deadline for submissions was late in February, but the boysin blue got it done, complete with a sponsorship from their uniformmakers, Tennessee-based Southeastern Manufacturing.

Harrington said he wore his honor guard uniform to accept theaward for the state. It wasn’t just the personal pride he took inthe distinction, he said, but also the fact that Mississippi wasgiven a chance to stand out.

“It just worked out good that I was the representative from thehonor guard,” he said. “I really don’t why they picked us but wewere glad we went. It was a real honor for the state overall, notjust for the highway patrol, it makes the state shine.”

Harrington and Boyd were not the only local officers involvedwith the entry, either. Local motor carrier officer Sgt. ScottCarnegie and K-9 officer Cpl. Scott Clark and his dog Bissy alsowere chosen as part of the photo shoot at the Capitol as well.

“These were officers from all over the state,” Boyd said. “Itwas a real group effort.”