POLICE Department

Major Offenders

The Major Offenders Division is responsible for the investigation of highly specialized and often unique types of criminal activity that fall outside the scope or expertise of other investigative divisions. The division’s cases are predominately related to felony offenses and involve habitual or career offenders. The division ultimately has the responsibility to determine whether a crime is reported to federal or state record keeping agencies as a hate crime, pursuant to the classification requirements of the 1990 Federal Hate Crime Statistics Act. The division’s major operational units include:

• Targeted Offenders, which includes a Career Criminal Squad, Fugitive Squad, Parole Violator Squad, and the personnel participating in the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force;
• Special Thefts, which includes Environmental Investigations, the Police Impersonation Squad, Swindle Squad, and Cargo Theft/Fence Squad; and
• Inter-Agency Task Forces, which work on a wide range of issues including firearms trafficking, organized crime, and violent street gangs involved in organized crime, and major theft criminal enterprises.