morning and thank you for being with us today here in the press briefing room. I have the pleasure today of announcing three major law enforcement hirings. Our state. We're hiring *** new director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, *** new capitol police chief and *** new capitol police assistant chief. Maintaining public safety is perhaps the single most important role of government and these individuals will be key players in preserving the security of Mississippians and the security of our state. Across the nation. We've seen *** startling rise in violent crime rates, in drug crimes and in homicides. Most especially many of our nation's largest cities have hit been hit hard by this crime wave. Unfortunately, as you are all very aware, our state has not been immune from this national crime wave here in our capital city. We've seen too many shootings, too many drug crimes and too much violence. Mississippi families deserve to feel safe walking around their neighborhoods. They deserve to feel comfortable in their homes and they deserve to feel confident that they can travel and gather safely in their capital city. We refuse to accept this crime wave as the norm in our state. My administration will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that our state law enforcement agencies are operating at peak effectiveness when it comes to stifling lawlessness and bringing criminals to justice, preserving the safety and security of our communities is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government. I take that incredibly seriously and refuse to sit idly by as criminals attempt to sow destruction in our communities so they can make *** profit or just simply gain street cred. The Department of Public Safety is one such agency that we must have operating at its peak effectiveness. The department and its components play *** key element in the statewide effort to counter crime. Throughout our state. Mississippi's law enforcement officers are working tirelessly to punish perpetrators and to keep us safe every single day. They're working to get drugs and those who sell them off the streets. They're working to remove illegal weapons from our communities and targeting criminal enterprises. In other words, every single day, our brave men and women in blue are running into harm's way for us in our families, whether it's law enforcement or any other element of my administration. I believe that our greatest asset is our people. It is the character and courage of our law enforcement officers that define our law enforcement agencies and have helped to build *** foundation of trust between officers and the communities they serve. Former G. E. Ceo and chairman of the board, Jack Welch once said and I quote, the team with the best players wins and I couldn't agree more across our law enforcement community. We're putting together the best team possible so that we can most effectively stifle and deflate violent crime in the state. We're strategically placing the most qualified leaders into roles where they can help to shape the operations of our state agencies and work with our local partners To do the same. Today, we will add three more members to our team and further strengthen our state law enforcement community. Each of these individuals brings *** tremendous wealth of experience to the job and I have no doubt with them on our team. Regardless of how long it takes, we will be victorious in our efforts to reduce crime in Mississippi. Okay, I am proud to announce that major Charles Haynes will be the new director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Charles has worked at DPS for over *** decade, most recently as *** major at NB I. He has the inside on the job knowledge of the operations and tactics of NB. I that's needed to hit the ground running. He's also served as 15 years in his role as both *** state trooper in the Mississippi Highway Patrol and as an officer with the Brandon Police Department. Furthermore, he holds *** master's degree from Belhaven University and is *** graduate of the FBI National Academy at Quantico Charles is the ideal candidate for this position and we look forward to having him on board Charles. Thank you for taking on this responsibility and welcome next Both. Lucky will be the new Chief of Police at capitol police. He spent the last decade as *** senior criminal investigator in the office of Attorney general, serving in both the human trafficking unit and the Consumer Protection division. Additionally, he has *** wide range of experience serving in the variety roles at law enforcement organizations such as Brandon Police Department, the Rankin County S. O. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security in investigations and the D. ***. Bo also has *** law degree from Mississippi College. When I think about those qualifications, I'm sort of reminded of the farmers insurance commercial which says, you know, we know *** thing or two because we've seen *** thing or two Bo certainly knows *** thing or two Because he's seen *** thing or two and I know that he will use that knowledge to strengthen the capitol police force bo. Thanks for stepping up and welcome aboard. Finally, Joshua ship is coming down to us from the Oxford Police Department where he served as *** patrol shift lieutenant to be *** new assistant chief of capitol police. Joshua previously served before his role at Oxford in the United States Secret Service in Washington, D. C. Where he provided protection for the White House complex and the Vice President's residency. He's played *** major role in bolstering the Oxford pd and holds *** master's degree from the University of Mississippi. I have no doubt that this experience will play *** valuable role in aiding his ability to bolster the efforts of capitol police Joshua. Welcome thanks for stepping up and best of luck, I have complete confidence in these three individuals abilities and I am sure that they will carry out the responsibilities of their offices with dignity and effectiveness. I also think it's worth noting that all three of these individuals at one point or another made *** conscious decision to either stay in Mississippi or move back two Mississippi, These highly qualified and highly trained public servants could be anywhere in the nation, but we're thankful that they're right here in our state. With that again, thank you all for being here and I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety Shawn Tindall Commission. Thank you Governor Reeves. And as I approached the completion of my second year as the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, I cannot express to me and to the agency how much your support has meant in our efforts to grow the agency and to make it better. So, thank you again throughout my tenure at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, I have done my best to be an advocate for law enforcement and knowing that I myself, I have never been to *** law enforcement training academy, the law enforcement agency made an arrest or been on *** patrol. I knew the importance of surrounding myself with the best and brightest law enforcement officers we had to offer and I think we've done that with our leadership team and they have certainly proven to be up to the task as we elevate the performance at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety but our job has not stopped and we are continuing to find the best and brightest and try to bring him on board at our department, as we want to create an environment where excellence and accountability come together with accountability. We're going to measure the performance of those that are working for us. And with that accountability will come opportunity where they will have opportunities to rise to higher levels. I couldn't be more proud of announcing now Lieutenant Colonel Charles Haynes as the next director for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. I've had an opportunity to work with Lieutenant Colonel Haynes for the last eight years, two years as commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and in his performance and his work ethic and his intelligence never ceases to amaze me with the job that he does. I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Lieutenant Colonel Morrison as the former Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation for the job that he's done the last four years. He has been *** friend. He has been *** mentor and somebody that I've leaned to for advice and had long conversations with about the future of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. I'd also like to thank Colonel randy Gin the Mississippi Highway Patrol who went through all the interviews with each candidate with me. And after those interviews, we were both in consensus that Lieutenant Colonel Charles Haynes would be the best choice to lead FBI into the future. So without further ado, Lieutenant Colonel Haynes good morning. I want to thank Governor Reeves and commissioner attendant for affording me the opportunity to be the director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. It is an assignment that I do not take lightly as we identify and pursue opportunities to provide investigative support to our law enforcement partners in communities in Mississippi. Over the previous year, I was assigned to critical incidents and also involved shootings where I met with various police chiefs and Sheriffs to enhance FBI services through outreach and response. I look forward to having more discussions with law enforcement executives and community leaders to build and established programs to advance their efforts concerning public safety and information sharing to deter criminal activity. I would like to thank Colonel again for its continued support and also I want to thank you Lieutenant Colonel Morrison for his guidance and support Under his leadership in the bureau over the previous four years again. Thank you Governor. Thank you. Commissioner. As many of you know, capitol police in the Capital Improvement district has been *** major priority for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. We have met with legislators. We have met with fellow law enforcement officers. We've met with the leadership of J. P. D. In the hinds County Sheriff's office as we work together to try to find solutions to crime within the Capital Improvement District. I think it takes great leadership to lead the changes that we're trying to bring to the capitol police. So when we sought out to replace Chief Bankston, who had been *** long term capital Police Chief and had done an excellent job. We knew that we wanted somebody that could take us into the future. Again, somebody with *** work ethic, somebody that was very intelligent and somebody that was *** true leader to that end. We set out and we put out applications for the new police chief and we had *** number of applications submitted and for the process to work. We had our deputy commissioners, keith Davis and steven McDevitt as well as Colonel randy again, do the initial set of interviews. And then I followed up with independent interviews myself and I can tell you that the candidates that interviewed were very impressive. All of them had great credentials, great leaders and law enforcement. But when I had an opportunity to meet with bo, lucky, I knew he brought exactly what we needed at this time to the table and I'm looking forward to working with him as he works with others to improve the capital Improvement district. We've already started having meetings. We've already started discussing plans and I'm excited to have him on board. But lucky, mm hmm. Thank you. Commissioner, Thank you. Governor. Race for this opportunity. It's *** huge honor to be selected as the next Chief of Police capitol police and I'm excited to for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Jackson as well as the citizens of the state of Mississippi who commute to Jackson and work within Jackson. Upon taking office. My first steps will be to assess the manpower and resources available at this time, Capitol Police in order to assure that we are functioning effectively and efficiently as possible in order to serve you to the best of our abilities. Once we get done with that, we plan on initiating meetings with community partners such as Jackson Police Department, Hinds County Sheriff's Department, as well as other state agencies throughout the state who maintain jurisdiction within the metro area. The purposes of these meetings will be in order to form *** plan to better support one another and form *** more unified front against the criminal element here in the city of Jackson. Also, as many of you have heard, we're expecting *** Large funding of more than 30 new positions within Capitol Police. We will be launching one of the largest scale recruitment efforts. This area is seen in quite some while and we plan on trying to institute *** very competitive pay structure and rank structure in order to ensure that we can get the most highly qualified experienced individuals with *** passion to serve their communities to the best of their abilities. All in all these efforts should result in *** larger police presence here in the capital city complex as well as greater partnerships within law enforcement community and hopefully to the end to where the city of Jackson can once again be safe enough for those of us who live here commute here work here and visit the metro city. Thank you again for this honorable opportunity And I look forward to serving each and every one of you and meeting with working with community leaders and partners throughout the state. Thank you. As I mentioned, we conducted *** series of interviews as we were looking for the new capitol police chief. And and there were *** number of very highly qualified candidates that we met with Joshua ship was one of those candidates who who stuck out to me very much and his professionalism, his education and again his work ethic. And so I can tell you that after meeting with him and reviewing his resume and not losing sight of one of the core functions of Capital Police, which is still to provide security for the capital improvement district at all our capitol buildings, the state capital, the Governor's Mansion, the Supreme Court building as well as the other government buildings surrounding this area. I looked at his resume and I knew he would be *** prime candidate to be an assistant chief and head up the security within the Capital Improvement district. He will bring knowledge, he will bring expertise and he will bring enthusiasm for the job. He's *** great young leader and we're looking forward to having him on our team Joshua ship. Thank you Governor Reeves and commissioned attendant for this opportunity. Uh I appreciate your confidence and allowing us to come in and do this job. My specific role with the capitol Police Department will be the executive security side of the house. So it's my goal to come in and assess the situation and the resources that we have and formulate *** plan that will provide *** safe environment for our elected leaders and the visitors and those who live in the capitol complex improvement district. Also, uh, focus on making sure that will secure the businesses as well. And it is also our elected officials. So that would be my role. I also would like to bring my family to the capitol complex improvement district and, and, and and live in this area and work with our community. So we're looking forward to coming here and doing that as well. And my goal is also to support Chief Lucky and the things that he's carrying out. So I want to be *** part of the recruitment efforts, making us the best department in the state. Thank you for the opportunity. Yes, hmm.