Iowa law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Brenna Bird, met with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel in Des Moines to discuss ways to tackle scams, drug trafficking, and other crimes with international ties.

Local Efforts to Combat Crime

The meeting, which was attended by over 130 local and state law enforcement officials, focused on how local entities can work with federal partners to address these issues. Patel spoke about the FBI’s focus on stopping human trafficking, including child trafficking, labor trafficking, and sex trafficking.

Waukee Police Chief Chad McCluskey, president of the Iowa Police Chiefs Association, expressed excitement about potential partnerships with the FBI to help individuals who have been scammed. “Anybody that has been scammed, especially a parent or grandparent, you want to be able to get those funds back to them,” McCluskey said.

Bird noted that the FBI has made significant strides in locating transnational organizations that take money from Americans. “We are talking today about how we could work together to recover some of that money, and give it back to the victim that it was taken from,” Bird said.

Federal Support for Local Law Enforcement

Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens said that this work will build on efforts to address scams already being conducted in the state, including a central Iowa law enforcement working group on scams. Bayens noted that sharing information through these working groups helps local and state law enforcement identify “nefarious actors” and that bringing in the FBI will allow them to pursue justice in situations where the scammer is outside the U.S.

Patel thanked Bird and other Iowa officials for the meeting in a social media post, stating that “Iowa is ground zero for our work with partners in the most successful run of crime reduction in U.S. history – with major crime reductions across the state including a 30%+ drop in Des Moines homicides last year alone.”

Original reporting: KCCI Des Moines — read the source article.