Jackson Free Press

A bill to help fund the Attorney General's fight against Cyber Crime and Vulnerable Person Abuse has been signed into law by the governor.

"I would like to thank Governor Barbour for signing a bill that means so much to our office, and will greatly increase our ability to protect our State's vulnerable persons and our children from cyber crime," said Attorney General Hood. "This bill will put a lot more boots on the ground in our attempt to arrest every child pornographer, sexual predator and abuser of vulnerable persons that we can find."

The Cyber Crime Unit intends to use the additional funds to hire an additional law enforcement officer and forensic investigator to help check computers for child pornography. The additional funding will allow the Vulnerable Adults Unit to hire three to four additional abuse investigators.

Representative Cecil Brown authored the bill. Representatives Kimberly Campbell Buck, Frances Fredericks and Adrienne Wooten co-authored the bill. Senator Sid Albritton, Representative Ed Blackmon, Senator Gray Tollison, Senator Terry Burton and Representative Cecil Brown were instrumental in the passage of this legislation.

"I sincerely appreciate these lawmakers for fighting an uphill battle and pulling a rabbit out of the hat in a session where revenue bills were few and far between," said Attorney General Hood. "These fees will come from a fee assessed to criminal citations. Not one dime of taxpayer money will go to fund these efforts."

The fee assessment for cyber crime will increase by $1.50 and should bring in a total of $750,000 for the Cyber Crime Unit. The fee assessment for crimes against vulnerable persons will increase by $1 and is expected to bring in a total around $565,000 for the Vulnerable Adults Unit.