Promises Made!!! Promises Kept!!!

During his 2003 campaign for Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood presented his goals to make Mississippi a safer place to live and to work. Hood’s Ten-Point Plan was a road map that utilized his experience as a prosecutor to fight crime on a state-wide level and to protect Mississippi’s families from those who would do them harm.

Hood’s common-sense and TOUGH AS NAILS approach resonated with Mississippians of all ages and of all backgrounds, who endorsed his plan with their votes on election day. Now, nearly four years later, Attorney General Jim Hood has made good on his promises.
Jim Hood has always understood one important truth: A politician will always make a promise when asking for a vote, but an elected leader willwork hard every day to turn promises into better lives. As shown in this report, Attorney General Jim Hood has kept his word to voters and taxpayers. And has he prepares for his next four years, Hood will chart an even broader course to make Mississippi a great and secure place to live and to rear a family.

A TEN POINT PLAN TO MAKE MISSISSIPPI SAFER

2003-2007

Problem: Too Many Violent Criminals and Drug Dealers Are Not In Prison Because There Is A Backlog Of Cases Waiting To Be Tried In Mississippi
Promise: Assign Assistant Attorneys General to help local prosecutors end the backlog of cases by helping local prosecutors investigate and prepare cases for trial Work with the Supreme Court to appoint Special Judges to handle these cases Create a “Cold Case Unit” to help local law enforcement solve the tougher crimes and move cases through the system

Promise Kept: Attorney General Jim Hood’s Office has provided training to the state’s prosecutors. The Division of the Office of Prosecutors has worked alongside the Mississippi Prosecutors Association to provide training and numerous services to assist Mississippi’s prosecutors. The Attorney General office has helped to provide two statewide conferences for prosecutors. These conferences serve for specialized training for victim assistance coordinators and investigators, as well as breakout training sessions for specific prosecutorial groups, ex: youth court prosecutors and newly assigned prosecutors). There is also specialized training for Municipal prosecutors and District Attorneys, and Assistant District Attorneys. Attorney General Jim Hood has sought improvement in the quality of instruction for county and municipal instructors by helping to implement the (TRSP) Traffic Resource Safety Prosecutor, which provides full-time assistance for DUI prosecutors. Furthermore, the Attorney General has supported the establishment and maintenance of a Prosecutors’ list server to assist in the exchange offender information.

Problem: Too Many Drug Kingpins Avoid Prosecution Because They Limit Their Involvement To the Money
Promise:Prosecute Drug Kingpins for tax evasion by working with the Legislature, Tax Commission, Dept. of Public Safety, and Bureau of Narcotics to create a task force to investigate and prosecute drug kingpins for tax evasion and money laundering.

Promise Kept: In 2004, Attorney General Jim Hood fought for the passage of HB 611, “Al Capone” Bill, for the prosecution of drug kingpins who launder money from drug trafficking and evade state income tax laws. Attorney General Jim Hood also secured the passage of HB 607, Methamphetamine Reduction Act, in 2005 that restricted the access to the ingredients needed to make Methamphetamine. In 2 short years, Mississippi has seen nearly 70 percent reduction in crime labs.

Problem: Too Many Guilty of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Get Little More Than A Slap On The Wrist

Promise: Lead effort to get Legislature to require mandatory jail time for repeat domestic violence offenders and child abusers. Establish a team in the Attorney General’s Office to educate and train law enforcement and prosecutors in handling domestic violence cases. Fine those convicted of domestic violence and child abuse and use those fines to help pay for “Safe Havens” for victims of domestic violence and child abuse. Work with business community to train employers to recognize evidence of domestic violence.

Promise Kept: Attorney General’s office has established the Domestic Violence Division to respond more effectively to the issue of domestic violence in our communities. The purpose of the Division is to facilitate enforcement of Mississippi’s domestic violence laws. The Division has trained 500 law enforcement officers, 50 prosecutors, 200 court clerks, 50 judges, and victim’s advocates to appropriately handled domestic violence cases. In 2007, Attorney General Jim Hood’s office fought for the passage of HB 1522 which provided that fines recovered from domestic violence offenders could be used by victims to relocate to “safe havens” away from their abuser. Finally, under Attorney General Jim Hood’s leadership, the AG’s office published its Workplace Violence Guide, which includes suggestions and tips for businesses and employers in addressing violence in the workplace, and provides guidelines for identifying employees experiencing violence in their personal lives, and encourages the formation of employee assistance programs to assist those employees.

Problem: Prosecution of Rapists Has Been Delayed Because Of Backlog of DNA Evidence That Needs To Be Tested

Promise: Fight for funding to clear backlog of DNA evidence waiting to be tested at State Crime Lab. Ensure that all convicted felons have DNA samples taken to be used in investigating and prosecuting future sex crimes.

Promise Kept: Fought for the passage of HB 212 in 2006 that fully funded the state crime lab.
Problem: Crime Victims Are Too Often Ignored

Promise: Establish a Statewide Victim’s Assistance Coordinator in the Attorney General’s Office to help victims keep track of criminal appeals. Provide annual victims’ rights training for law enforcement and Victim Assistance Coordinators through the Prosecutor’s Training Division of the Attorney General’s Office.

Promise Kept: In 2004 Attorney General Jim Hood established the Crime Victim Compensation Program in his office. Over the last 3 ½ years, that division has provided over $3.5 million to crime victim’s families to pay for things like funerals and other items needed to put their lives back together. Additionally, the Division has provided nearly 70 training session across the state for law enforcement, judges, victims’ assistance coordinators, and prosecutors. In order to better serve crime victims, Attorney General Jim Hood created the Victim Services Division. This Division works tirelessly to keep crime victims notified when the courts renders decisions in their cases and assists the victims in knowing and invoking their rights under the law.

Problem: Too Hard To Ensure A Fair Trial In Public Corruption Cases

Promise: Lobby the Legislature to change the law to allow the Attorney General to indict corrupt public officials under the Statewide Grand Jury Act

Promise Kept: Attorney General Jim Hood has secured over 85 convictions against corrupt public officials and recovered over $ 2.7 million ($2,752,984.38) in embezzled, overpaid, unauthorized, misused funds, and tax payer dollars.

Problem: Too Many Seniors Are Subject To Fraud, Abuse, Neglect

Promise: Reorganize the Attorney General’s Office to put more investigators and prosecutors in the Vulnerable Adults Unit of the Public Integrity Division of the Attorney General’s Office. Establish an “Empowered Seniors” program which will create a volunteer group of seniors to teach other seniors how to protect themselves from fraud, abuse, and neglect.

Promise Kept: In 2004, Attorney General Jim Hood established the Senior Sleuth volunteer program that monitors elder care facilities and consumer scams. In 2005, Attorney General Jim Hood worked with the legislature to provide annual funding for the office’s Vulnerable Adults Unit that investigates and prosecutes cases of abuse, fraud, and neglect.

Problem: Too Many Mississippi Juveniles Are Engaged In Crime

Promise: Reduce juvenile crime with prevention and intervention programs, by urging the Legislature to support such programs. Support increased after-school and mentoring programs to give young people an alternative to the streets and give them positive role models. Continued support for Boys/Girls Clubs, Big Brother/Big Sister. Use videos of prison life to show young people crime does not pay. Work with Department of Youth Services to obtain increased federal support for Adolescent Offender Programs.

Promise Kept: Attorney Genera Jim Hood has provided over $14 million to after-school programs like Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Communities in Schools. Through programs such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Attorney General’s Office has provided supportive programming to provide successful opportunities for Mississippi’s youth in conjunction with programs such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Mississippi, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mississippi, Communities in Schools, and the Adolescent Offender Programs, Prevention and Intervention Programs and Families First Resource Centers of the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA). Since 2003, the Boys and Girls Clubs have grown to serve more than 20,000 youth, in 58 sites, in 43 Mississippi counties. Furthermore, Attorney General Hood has launched school violence prevention initiative and increased school safety patrols. He has created a “Guide to Child Safety” to assist parents in protecting their children.

Problem: School Safety Needs To Be Improved

Promise: Develop a comprehensive agreement that will allow schools, law enforcement, and other state and local agencies to communicate and share information regarding juveniles who pose a threat to school safety.

Promise Kept: Collaborative actions have taken place between the Attorney General Jim Hood’s Office, the Department of Education and Department of Public Safety to establish formal, organized efforts within schools to improve the level of safety and prevent crimes on campus. The result has been the provision of training, resource materials and equipment to local schools enabling them to carry out a structured school safety program. School safety trainings have been conducted across the state on a regional basis involving 69 individual schools and approximately 125 persons. Finally, collaborative efforts between Attorney General Jim Hood’s Office and the Mississippi Association of Educators have resulted in creation of a School Violence Prevention Guide available to communities and school districts throughout Mississippi. That guide provides guidance in areas including threat assessment, prevention of school violence, crisis response and additional resources available to the schools and districts.

Problem: Computer Crimes Pose New Challenge For Law Enforcement

Promise: Vigorous prosecution by Attorney General’s office of child pornography on the Internet. Bring together the Consumer Protection Division and the Cybercrime Center of the AG’s Office to prosecute fraud and identity theft over the Internet Increased training of law enforcement by AG’s Office on issues regarding computer crime.

Promise Kept: The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office established the Cyber Crime Center (CCC) in 2002 to address the growing concern of Cyber related criminal activity within the State of Mississippi. The CCC investigates and prosecutes crimes involving illegal computer and Internet activity, including: Child Exploitation, Identity Theft, Computer Intrusion, and Internet Fraud. The CCC operates a fully operational Computer Forensics Laboratory to assist state, local and federal agencies in forensically analyzing digital evidence related to a multitude of criminal offenses. Furthermore, the CCC provides Internet Safety training to civic organizations as well as schools and other government entities. The CCC investigates and assist s state, local and federal law enforcement with the investigation of complex electronic crimes, train law enforcement and prosecutors concerning the seizure, storage and analysis of computer evidence, distribute accurate information to the public and strive to prevent future crimes and the sexual exploitation of our youngest citizens. The CCC assists in the seizure of computer evidence as necessary and can conduct impartial and objective analysis of computer evidence using available tools and procedures.

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