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Today the Secretary of State’s Office announced the launch of the Mississippi Delta Agricultural Theft Task Force at the MSU Extension Delta Research Center in Stoneville, Mississippi.
“Thieves do not see the Delta for its beauty or agricultural productivity but instead for the opportunity to steal other’s property,” says Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. “Our Agency is making an effort to make it tougher to profit from these thefts and easier for these thieves to go to prison.”
To better address the problem of agricultural theft in the Delta, the Secretary of State’s Office is forming a Task Force to link law enforcement, scrap metal recycling yards, and other interested parties. The Task Force will include participation with Arkansas and Louisiana law enforcement as well as metal yards in these States. The Task Force will implement an early-alert email system that will be administered by the Secretary of State’s Office through LeadsOnline.
To combat metal theft crimes, the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office provides law enforcement free unlimited access to the LeadsOnline Metal Theft Investigations System. Over 480 businesses in Mississippi and 30,000 businesses nationwide report transactions electronically via LeadsOnline.
The early-alert email system is a proactive approach for the Task Force to be able to detect, develop leads, successfully prosecute and hopefully deter and reduce agricultural theft in the Delta farming community. This is a unique combination of governmental and private enterprise to extend a citizen’s protection from metal theft.
Immediately, scrapyards and local law enforcement will be alerted to theft items. Through the work of the Task Force, cross-border law enforcement and cross-border scrap yards, the goal is for them to be continuously informed of agricultural thefts and updated with relevant information as it develops.
For more information, please contact the Regulation and Enforcement Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office at 601-359-9055 or ag_taskforce@sos.ms.gov. Click here for press release: http://www.sos.ms.gov/About/Pages/Press-Release.aspx?pr=692
