(1) The Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the Department of Public Safety, in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, is authorized to designate any segment of any public street, road, highway or interstate within the state upon which any member of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol has fallen in the line of duty as a memorial roadway in such officer’s honor, provided that such memorial roadway shall not extend more than five (5) miles in each southern and northern or eastern and western direction of the location in which the fallen member of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol fell.

(2) The Department of Public Safety shall notify the Mississippi Department of Transportation of the site of such officer who was killed in the performance of his or her official duties, and the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate signs with a distinctive marker along and approaching the segment of roadway denoting the site of the fallen officer’s death. The distinctive marker shall be designed by the Department of Public Safety with the advice and recommendation of the Mississippi State Troopers’ Association.

(3) The funding for the distinctive markers shall be made from any funds appropriated by the Legislature to the Department of Public Safety or from any gifts, grants or donations received by the Department of Public Safety for the purpose of providing the distinctive markers.

(4) This section shall apply to all Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol officers who have given their lives in the performance of their official duties after July 1, 1938.