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FOX 2's one-on-one with head of FBI's Detroit office

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Published  December 13, 2019 6:00pm EST
Detroit
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Just this past Tuesday, that echoed throughout the country. It was a hate crime, leading the gunmen to kill a police officer and three others at a grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey. 
   
The new special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office Steven D'Antuono has been in Detroit since September.  

Roop Raj sits down with special agent in charge of FBI’s Detroit office

Roop Raj sat down with Steven D'Antuono, special agent in charge of the FBI's field office in Detroit.

FOX 2: What are the big concerns and the things on your list when you look at Detroit and Michigan?

"It's the homegrown violent extremist, the H-V threats, that's still the number one priority, racially motivated violent extremists as well. The situation that just happened in Pensacola, the situation that just happened in Jersey -- we are not immune to that here in this state and we are not immune to that here in Detroit," he said.

FOX 2: You got the invitation and the offer to come here and you accepted. Why?
  
"I actually put in for Detroit. I threw in for Detroit. The way the process works with promotions: you throw in for a city you would like to go to as an SAC. ... The people that I know who have worked here, and have left for the burea, want to come back. They miss it, they want to come back.," he said.

In our two part interview, we talked about Hoffa, white collar crimes and other things that are top of mind. D'Antuono says people need to keep their eyes peeled always. The FBI depends on men and women in neighborhoods all over Michigan to see something and say something.  

FOX 2: Do you think people have let their guards down in terms of paying attention?

"I don't think people have let the guards down, I think you have to remain ever vigilant. You have to continue to keep your eyes open and as a former director, Comey said it is living in the yellow. It is not living in the red or the green, it is living in the yellow," he said.

Think of 911 -- the FBI is trying to be more transparent and approachable in the last decade is seeing a spike in calls coming in.  

"We are becoming the 911 center for the federal government so about 80% of those calls aren't even our federal violations but we're working with our state and locals, definitly here in Michigan, and we have set up a big squad here with our partners with our state and locals, here to triage a lot of those calls," D'Antuono said.