U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross discusses violent crimes

The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama says his office is committed to lowering violent crime in the 22 counties they represent.

U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross sat down with Action 8 News earlier this week.

Ross says a misconception is that his office only handles big cases, like white collar crimes, but he says that’s not true at all.

“Just in the last week or so, my office has begun weekly meetings focused on violent crime,” U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross says. “These meetings involve local law enforcement and a host of federal law enforcement agencies.”

Ross says everyone comes together in real time to discuss who is involved and what can be done to build cases against them.

He says a big problem now is switches, or machine gun devices, that are becoming prevalent in our area. Ross says the switches allow users to convert a fully automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon. The conversion allows guns to become capable of firing hundreds of rounds in a moment with the pull of the trigger.

“They are prevalent in our district and causing a lot of harm. A lot of the shootings in our district involve these devices,” says Ross.

The Alabama House passed a bill in this year’s legislative session that would have banned switches on Glock handguns, but it failed to make it out of the Senate.

Ross says the key is communication between the community and law enforcement. Ross urges if you see something out of the ordinary, you should tell your law enforcement office immediately.

To watch our sit-down interview with U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross, click on the video player above.