(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The new special agent in charge of the FBI in Chicago is talking about helping city police deal with the increase in violence in the city.
Robert “Wes” Wheeler has been in Chicago for a month and has been with the FBI since 1999.
He says Chicagoans feel the increase in violence and so does he, as a new resident. That’s why the FBI has to bring all the resources to bear that it can to help Chicago police and other agencies, he said.
“What I would concentrate on is just looking for ways to do it better, looking for ways to innovate, how we’re thinking about that problem. But we’ll continue to do that,” he tells WBBM Newsradio.
Wheeler said the FBI will not take its foot off the gas in that regard.
“We’re going to continue to look for ways to be better at dismantling those organizations that are responsible for most of this and we’ll look for ways to address every matter that we can with our partners.”
Wheeler calls being named special agent in charge in Chicago the pinnacle of his lengthy career. He most recently was the chief-of-staff to the executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch of the FBI in Washington, D.C. He’s had extensive experience in counter-terrorism.
As for dealing with the perception by some that the FBI is not even-handed, Wheeler said Chicagoans can be proud of the work of his office and that he’ll let the agency’s work speak for itself.
And, other than calling it “not good news,” Wheeler did not want to comment on this week’s arrest of a former high-ranking FBI official on charges of secretly working for a Russian oligarch.
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