[11/15/02]The state official who joked that he “sits up all night signing all those driver’s licenses” said Thursday that the state’s new licenses will be the nation’s best in terms of being tamper-proof.

David R. Huggins, the state’s Commissioner of Public Safety, whose signature is actually printed on all licenses, spoke to state police chiefs’ meeting Thursday at Battlefield Inn. The host chief, Vicksburg ‘s Tommy Moffett, said about 80 chiefs are in town.

“They have all the modern technology,” Huggins said of the licenses, which drivers will begin being issued exclusively about Nov. 25. People who get new licenses after then will be able to include their thumbprints on the cards. About 85 percent of those given the option so far have chosen to do so, Huggins said.

Other new features, including signatures embedded in photographs, are designed to prevent identity theft, Huggins said.

“We’ve got the best driver’s license in the United States,” Huggins said. “The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators is looking at it (as a model).”

Though its largest responsibility is the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, among the Department of Public Safety’s other divisions are the state’s crime laboratory and law enforcement academy.

Huggins also cited reducing turnaround time for evidence sent to the Crime Lab for analysis as an improvement. Some departments were waiting up to a year for test results, Huggins said.

The lab is carrying a manageable load of fewer than 6,000 cases, and tries to complete work on at least all that involve narcotics evidence within about 30 to 60 days, expediting cases when requested, Huggins said. Crime lab director Ken Winter deserves much credit for the lab’s recent organizational improvement, he added.

“As a law-enforcement agency, you must have analytical support when the grand juries are meeting and the DAs need it,” Huggins said.

The department has also revitalized its crime-scene unit under Huggins’ direction, he said. The unit’s forensic specialists, used most by the state’s smaller police and sheriff’s departments for help with evidence-gathering, are on-call around the clock and are better-trained and more available than in recent years, he said.

Huggins also commented on homeland security, stressing the necessity of interagency cooperation.

“It starts at the city and at the county (levels),” he said. “I know because I’ve been out there. If we have any fault in this room it’s our own jealousy and not working together.”

He reminded the chiefs that while terrorism may sometimes seem far-off, the sniper suspects arrested in Virginia are known to have been on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Sept. 27, and at least two others with suspected links to or information on international terrorism have been questioned while in the state.

“We can’t forget, it can touch Mississippi,” he said of the terrorist threat.

Huggins also advocated better pay for law-enforcement officers across the state, and commended Vicksburg’s recent salary increases for police officers.

And he commented on the approximately $23 million in federal grants administered by the department’s Public Safety Planning division, saying it was being put to effective use by agencies around the state.

“I hope when homeland security comes, that doesn’t go back to the federal government,” he said.