KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Field Office of the FBI will serve as the home of a new regional Homeland Security Task Force.
The HSTF, a collaboration between the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, will focus on criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations.
“This new HSTF model puts all agencies in the same room with one focus: crushing the presence of criminal organizations in our communities,” FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Stephen A. Cyrus said in a release. “Through interagency collaboration and surging resources to this task force, the FBI and HSI are making clear its priority: protect the homeland and ensure the safety and security of our community from violent criminals.”
The regional HSTF will cover Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, with offices in Wichita, Des Moines and Omaha in addition to the regional center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Among the activities on HTSF’s radar: drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, alien smuggling, homicide, extortion, kidnapping, and “other transitional organized crime-related violations that may be of federal investigative interest.”
“HSI is fully committed to identifying and eliminating criminal organizations that embed themselves in our communities,” ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Mark Zito said in Thursday’s release. “Alongside our federal, state and local partners, we will expose violent offenders, shut down transnational operations, and enforce immigration and customs laws of the United States with precision and purpose.”
“Criminal enterprises operating in this region should take heed — we will find you, and we will arrest you, and we will prosecute you,” Zito said.
Last month, FBI Director Kash Patel told a U.S. House committee that he planned to shift resources out of Washington, D.C., to regional field offices across the country. He cited the Kansas City area as one place that would receive additional agents.
Patel said at the time the reallocation could include more than 30 agents.
It’s unclear whether Thursday’s HTSF announcement is part of Patel’s regionalization efforts.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
