Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Looking at the ATF's website the other day, I ran across a description of their Violent Crime Impact Teams, and it sounded interesting; they seem to work with local police to target violent, street-level crimes involving firearms. I'm hoping someone here can clarify something for me though ... are these VCITs actual teams of agents and cops dedicated to doing these investigations, or are they more of a PR thing where, eg, ATF agents take local arrests federal when they involve a gun, but those agents really are not involved in the investigation beyond that (eg, they aren't out there tracking down burglarly crews, etc.). I'm hoping these VCITs are exactly what they claim to be, because they sound like a good time. Thanks a lot for any info on this.

I have personally worked several cases with ATF, they even had a office in my Agency for several years. I am unfamiliar with the "Team" you refer to, but I can tell you they do assist with cases involving violent felons, etc and we usually have charges and they "add" their own after we charge them with our state statute violations.

I am aware of ATF agents working in at least two cities in New England, on the streets with the local police.

Whether or not they're part of this VCIT: I don't know. But they certainly are out there.

Actually, upon research, the two cities I am aware the ATF has been on the pavement with local / state cops are NOT VCIT cities. ATF Fact Sheet - Violent Crime Impact Teams (VCIT) Initiative (http://www.atf.gov/publications/factsheets/factsheet-violent-crime-impact-teams.html)



If the feds are going to simply jump on a local arrest for their own charges after the fact, I believe the case goes from the local prosecuting agency to the US Attorney's office, skipping any of the fed LE agencies as there isn't much investigating to do, just prosecuting.