Attorney General Jim Hood talks to Crime Stoppers

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood was on the Coast today for the Crime Stoppers Convention to discuss some of the difficulties our law enforcement officers face. He also took the time to thank them for what they contribute to society.

Hood, a Democrat, recently announced his candidacy for Mississippi governor. If elected, he says the lack of funding for our state’s crime labs and delays in getting autopsy reports will be on the top of his agenda as governor.

Hood says he’d also like to see the state address how to better handle mental health patients and how to get them in a patient bed rather than a jail cell, a measure Hood says taxpayers foot the bill for.

Hood says he loves his long time role as the state’s attorney general, pointing out that to him a salary can’t buy the rewards that come with helping Mississippians, but he knows as governor he could do more.

Hood tells News 25 he wants to put political party affiliations aside to get more done for the betterment of Mississippi. “So many Republicans and Democrats have encouraged me to run because they know what we are doing is not working. They know that our economy is flat, when you compare it other states, where our growth rate since the great recession has been about one percent. It popped up to about three percent maybe temporarily, but Tennessee is growing at 19 percent and the Southeastern average is a 16 percent growth. Alabama and Arkansas are growing at about 9 percent. Why is our state not growing? It’s simply because we gave our tax revenues away. We didn’t invest in our roads and education now we’re seeing the results, you know the crime labs and mental health and these other areas have deteriorated. So it’s really encouraging to see people, Republicans and Democrats, are wanting us to come together and see us do something because they know what we’re doing is not working.”

Hood and current Lt. Governor Tate Reeves are the only politicians who have officially announced their 2019 candidacy for governor.