Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 10 - Education Institutions and Agencies › Part 617 - Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship (LAW) Rules and Regulations › Chapter 1 - Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship (LAW) Rules and Regulations › Rule 10-617-1.1 - Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship (LAW) Rules and Regulations

Current through June 25, 2024
These Rules and Regulations are subject to change by the
				  Mississippi Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board (Postsecondary
				  Board). The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship
				  Program offers financial assistance to dependent children and spouses of any
				  Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer
				  firefighter who has suffered fatal injuries or wounds or become permanently and
				  totally disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the
				  performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office.
I.
GENERAL ELIGIBILITY:
A. The applicant must enroll full-time
				(minimum 15 semester hours or 9 trimester hours) at the undergraduate level at
				one (1) state-supported college or university within the state of
				Mississippi.
B. The applicant must
				be certified as a dependent child or spouse of any Mississippi law enforcement
				officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter who suffered fatal
				injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and
				appointed duties of his or her office or who became permanently and totally
				disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of
				the official and appointed duties of his or her office.
1. "Child" or "children" means natural
				children, adopted children or stepchildren.
a)
				For proof of dependency, additional documentation may be required for adopted
				or stepchildren.
b) A child must
				not have reached the age of twenty-three (23) years on the first day of the
				first term for which the LAW scholarship is awarded.
2. A "spouse" as it applies to this
				scholarship is a person who was legally married to a Mississippi law
				enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter at the time
				of the death, or, in the case of the law enforcement officer or firefighter who
				was permanently and totally disabled, has not remarried.
3. "Mississippi law enforcement officer" is
				defined as follows:
a) "State highway
				patrolmen" including all law enforcement officers, regardless of department or
				bureau, of the Mississippi Highway Safety patrol.
b) "Municipal police officers" including all
				law enforcement officers of any municipality who are regular duty personnel on
				full-time status, but not including auxiliary officers or those serving on a
				temporary or part-time status.
c)
				"Sheriffs" and "deputy sheriffs" including all law enforcement officers of
				full-time duty status on a regular basis serving the sheriff's department of
				any county at the time of death or injury, but not including deputy sheriffs
				who are engaged in administrative or civil duty, or deputy sheriffs serving in
				a temporary capacity or part-time basis.
d) "Constables" including all duly elected
				constables of any beat of any county within the state who were permanently or
				fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties
				concerning the criminal laws of the county and state.
e) "Conservation officers" including all duly
				appointed game wardens employed by the State of Mississippi on a full-time
				status who were permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the
				performance of their duties concerning the game laws of the state.
f) "Alcoholic Beverage Control Division
				agents and inspectors" including all duly appointed agents and investigators of
				the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Mississippi State Tax Commission
				on a full-time duty status who were permanently or fatally injured while
				actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the alcoholic
				beverage control laws of the state.
g) Members of the National Guard serving as
				peace officers when ordered to state emergency duty under authority vested in
				the Governor by the Constitution and laws of the state and who during that
				service were fatally or permanently injured.
h) "Tax commission scales enforcement
				officers" including all duly appointed scales enforcement officers of the
				Mississippi State Tax Commission on a full-time duty status who were
				permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of
				their duties.
i) Duly appointed
				agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
j) Correctional, Probation and Parole
				officers employed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
4. Full-time firefighter is
				defined as any firefighter employed by any subdivision of the State of
				Mississippi on full-time duty status that was permanently and totally disabled
				or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their
				duties.
5. Volunteer firefighter is
				defined as any volunteer firefighter registered with the State of Mississippi
				or a political subdivision thereof on a volunteer firefighting status that was
				permanently and totally disabled or fatally injured while actually engaged in
				the performance of firefighting duties.