Violent Crime Unit

FBI VCU

The **Violent Crime Unit** (VCU) is a program within the Violent Crime Section of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The VCU specializes in the apprehension of violent offenders and members of violent criminal organizations, as well as providing support to investigations relating to violent crime. It also serves as the Bureau's tactical surveillance unit in divisions with a local VCU team(s), and can be tasked with supporting other divisions on an as needed basis. The VCU currently has 64 full time personnel (field agents), and up to 51 support personnel on an as needed basis.

## History

The Violent Crime Unit (VCU) was founded in 2004 within the Los Angeles Division and was patterned on the LAPD's Special Investigation Section. After its initial successes 5 other VCU's were created in other cities with gang and/or violent crime issues including New York City, St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore and Memphis. Despite similar gang issues to Los Angeles, the Chicago Division never created a VCU as most of its functions were already provided by several of the local Safe Streets Task Forces.

The Los Angeles Violent Crime Unit is the largest VCU with two investigative teams and two support teams, whereas the other 5 VCU's have one investigative team and one to two support teams each, LA-VCU grew from 6 field agents and 5 support personnel at its inception in 2004 to currently having 16 field agents and 13 support personnel, with additional support personnel available on an as needed basis.

Due to significant decreases in violent crime in New York City over the past decade, the New York Violent Crime Unit has decreased its personnel from 25 at its height to 8, it has also gone from three support teams to 1 full time support team and one as needed support team. Since 2019 the FBI considered disbanding the NY-VCU but has yet to reach a decision on whether or not to keep it active in some capacity, disband it completely, or set it as an ancillary duty unit.

The VCU is overseen by the FBI's Violent Crime Section which is part of the Criminal Enterprise Branch. Each VCU is headed by a Unit Chief who reports both to their respective Special Agent in Charge (SAC), as well as to Section Chief Kurt Simms of the Violent Crime Section and/or Deputy Assistant Director Edwin Snow of the Criminal Enterprise Branch. While each VCU is officially part of their respective field office, the leadership including the staffing, operational decisions and support, and administration of each VCU is handled on a Headquarters level by the Violent Crime Section, while their assigned field office is responsible for assigning cases and providing operational support to VCU operations.

### Personnel

* Total Personnel: 115 (64 field agents and 51 support personnel)
* Los Angeles Violent Crime Unit: 29 (16 field agents and 13 support personnel)
* New York Violent Crime Unit: 18 (8 field agents and 10 support personnel)
* St. Louis Violent Crime Unit: 16 (10 field agents and 6 support personnel)
* Detroit Violent Crime Unit: 18 (10 field agents and 8 support personnel)
* Baltimore Violent Crime Unit: 17 (10 field agents and 7 support personnel)
* Memphis Violent Crime Unit: 17 (10 field agents 7 support personnel)

## Crimes Investigated by the VCU

* Kidnapping
* White Slave Trade Act
* Assassination, Kidnapping or Assaulting (Member of Congress, Supreme Court Justice)
* Assaulting, Killing or Attempting to Kill a Federal Officer
* Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer
* Crimes Against Family Members (Federal officials)
* Bank Robbery/Bank Larceny
* Interstate Transportation in Aid of Racketeering
* Police Killings
* Hobbs Act
* Hostage Taking (Non-terrorism related)
* Serial Killings
* Gang Crime (As part of local, county, state and federal gang task forces including the Safe Streets Gang Task Forces)
* Drug Crime (As part of DOJ/DEA task forces, as well as local, county, state and federal drug task forces)
* Service of Warrants/Warrant Apprehension (As part of FBI Investigations)

## Organization

There are currently 6 Violent Crime Unit's or VCU's:

* New York City Violent Crime Unit (NY-VCU)
* Los Angeles Violent Crime Unit (LA-VCU)
* St. Louis Violent Crime Unit (STL-VCU)
* Detroit Violent Crime Unit (D-VCU)
* Baltimore Violent Crime Unit (B-VCU)
* Memphis Violent Crime Unit (M-VCU)