He made that statement following his keynote address at the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner this evening in Roanoke Rapids. “I'm very concerned about the direction of our state,” he said. “It's too early to make an official announcement, but I'm certainly laying the groundwork. Doing the job of attorney general comes first.”
Also during a brief question and period, Cooper said it is up to local law enforcement to enforce laws on the books regarding the operation of Internet sweepstakes cafes across the state. “We don't do local investigations,” he said. “We can provide advice on how to investigate video poker machines.”
In his keynote address, the state's highest-ranking law enforcement officer addressed a myriad of issues, from scams to education. “You have great representatives here,” the Nash County native said.
Cooper gives his keynote address.
Cooper said his office has tried to bring more technology to law enforcement, trying to build up DNA databases.
While the Internet has helped in criminal investigations, it has also opened a new door for criminals. “Criminals are using the Internet to rob us of our money and our safety. We're seeing more child exploitation and pornography.”
An initiative to round up the state's 25 top child pornographers brought many to justice, he said. He related a story of officers finding a 14-year-old girl living in the house of one of them. “The officer said to her, 'You don't have to sleep with one eye open. He's coming with us.'”
The department of justice, Cooper said, is trying to work with school systems to avoid situations like Columbine. “If we don't have safe schools, we can't teach our children.”
Training in Orange County helped diffuse a potentially deadly school shooting situation. “When the shooter began firing, the school resource officer took action because we had provided training in rapid deployment. Columbine taught us the need to have rapid deployment. They apprehended the young man. No one was hurt, no one was killed. The officer said it was from training him to know what to do.”
Cooper addressed a new trend in scams, one in which the scammers send invoices to companies without having done any work. Another scam is one in which scammers will try to sell businesses wage and hour posters although they are free from the government.
Patent scammers threaten businesses with letters saying they are breaching software use rights and must pay a fine. “A number of companies are paying this for peace of mind.”
In his address, Cooper criticized the state for turning down federal unemployment benefits. “I think we went too far with that. We really need to take another look at that. We came down hard on people looking for work.”
Improving public education is crucial, the attorney general said. Classrooms are being robbed of teacher assistants. “I'm concerned about teacher salaries. We've got to do what we can keep teachers here with better pay. Education is an economic engine,” he said, stressing later, “Education is the key to justice.”
