ROANOKE, Va. – Violent crime continues to be on the rise across the region and the country.
To combat this, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia is getting additional resources.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Chris Kavanaugh says his office is getting six additional prosecutors to help with their caseload.
“We are getting six new prosecutors to cover that territory and we are going to be adding a substantial portion to the Roanoke and cover the valley,” he said.
Out of the positions, three of them will be assistant U.S. Attorneys to focus on domestic terrorism and violent crime.
Two will be focused on civil rights, one for COVID fraud and another position as a support staff position to help fight domestic terrorism and violent crime.
“It is absolutely a surge in resources that we have not seen in our history. And we think it’s a recognition from the Department of Justice and Washington D.C. for the great work that we are doing here,” Kavanaugh said.
Already this past year, the Western District of Virginia’s office has increased its caseload.
The number of violent crimes the office has prosecuted has gone up by 63% and gun crime prosecution is up 193%.
“As you can see that is a substantial increase in the amount of work and that lines up with the commitment this administration has to fight violent crime in our communities,” Kavanaugh said.
Officials say these six new positions will be posted by the end of this week and hope to fill them soon.