Miss. Code Ann. § 45-7-41

(1) The board of supervisors of any county:

(a) Bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, having created a county port authority under the provisions of Sections 59-9-1 through 59-9-85, Mississippi Code of 1972; or

(b) Bordering on the State of Alabama, having a land area of seven hundred twenty-one (721) square miles, having a population in excess of sixty-seven thousand (67,000) in the 1960 federal decennial census, wherein there is located a state-supported mental institution, and wherein U. S. Highways 80 and 45 intersect; may employ not more than five (5) county patrol officers.

(2) The board of supervisors of any county bordering on the Mississippi River and having an area of four hundred forty-eight (448) square miles with a population not in excess of thirty-two thousand five hundred (32,500), and a municipality therein with a population in excess of twenty-two thousand (22,000) and of not more than twenty-three thousand (23,000), all in accordance with the federal census of 1950, may employ not more than two (2) county patrol officers.