Attorney General Establishes Task Force to Study Issues Facing Crime Lab, DNA Logging and Medical Examiner's Office From: AG News Release    Filed 7/2/08  GCN Jackson, MS-Recognizing the impact on the state's law enforcement community, Attorney  General Jim Hood has created a task force to study  the funding and staffing  issues facing the Mississippi State Crime Lab and Medical Examiner's Offices, as well as our system for gathering and processing DNA samples.   Due to a lack of adequate funding,  Mississippi does not have a full-time medical examiner to conduct autopsies and the crime lab has no handwriting analyst.   General Hood stated, "Our Office is compiling funding comparisons from other Southern states' crime labs to assist  the task force in analyzing adequate funding levels.  We will also review  the efficiency in how  we take DNA samples from convicts, test the samples, place the information in a database, and check the database for matches with old crime samples."    The first meeting of the Crime Lab/Medical Examiner Task Force is scheduled for August 21, 2008 at the  Office of the Attorney General.  Invitations were sent to representatives of the Mississippi Prosecutors' Association, the Mississippi Sheriffs' Association, the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, the Mississippi Coroners' Association and also to the Commissioners of the Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety.     "We in the law enforcement community rely heavily on the physical evidence  presented in criminal trials to ensure successful prosecutions," said Attorney General Jim Hood.  "It is my hope that by bringing law enforcement  officers, prosecutors and forensic experts together, that we can  strategically analyze the problems and offer realistic solutions to our  lawmakers." The group will present its final findings to the Mississippi  legislative  leadership.