Mr. Schiff: Hi, welcome to "FBI 100, A Closer Look." I'm Neal Schiff of the Bureau's Office of Public Affairs along with FBI Historian Dr. John Fox. John, as we speak, the FBI has 56 field offices around the United States. When and why were these offices created?
Dr. Fox: "Well Neal even from the days just before the Bureau was founded, we had representatives in New York, Chicago and we found that we needed to have people spread throughout the country just because of the scope of what the FBI was being asked to do."
Mr. Schiff: What are some of the cities that the FBI placed field offices as time moved forward John?
Dr. Fox: "Well Neal it has always depended on what we needed to do. We’d always have them in the largest cities: Washington, New York, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago. But even then sometimes we’d have them in smaller cities; in Alaska; in Juneau; or in Anchorage. In the south, Neal, we were asked to open an office in Jackson, Mississippi, given everything that was going on during the Civil Rights Era and the need to investigate the many crimes against African-Americans going on.”
Mr. Schiff: I suppose the FBI constantly looks at the field offices to see if any need to moved, closed or a new office opened?
Dr. Fox: "We’re constantly evaluating what we’re being asked to do and where we can best put our resources."
Mr. Schiff: There’s a list of FBI offices on the Internet at www.fbi.gov. From the FBI’s Public Affairs office, along with Bureau Historian Dr. John Fox, I'm Neal Schiff with "FBI 100, A Closer Look."
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