Barry Grissom talks with the media following his talk to the Rotary Club.

U-S Attorney for Kansas, Barry Grissom was in Hutchinson Monday to talk priorities for federal law enforcement in Kansas, including his office.

Grissom spoke at noon Monday at the Hutchinson Rotary Club meeting at the Ramada Inn.

He talked with us afterword’s about how his office is working with local law enforcement more in taking some cases so that the bad guys are taken off the streets. He says, you take a community that has 10-to-12-thousand people in it, take out 2-or-3 really bad guys, that has a dramatic impact on the quality of life for the rest of the community.” He adds, “from a local prosecutors stand point, its’ a nice hammer, if you will, that you can bring to bear on someone who is a defendant, by saying look, you either plead as charged, go do the state time, or we’ll turn you over to the U-S Attorney’s Office and they’ll hammer you.”

There use to be a time when the feds would consider cases sent to them by state prosecutors and the U-S Attorney’s Office would sometimes turn them down. Grissom says that’s not been the case since he came to be the U-S Attorney in Kansas.

He says in some cases, the defendant would get more time going through the federal system, they they would in state court. And, there is no parole in the federal system. You get life, you serve the rest of your life in prison.

Grissom during his speech says “Terrorism,” is the number on thing his office works to protect, and says Kansas is not immune. He cited the incident with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who put together the bomb which they built here in Kansas, using local materials, then blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Then there was the first attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Eyad Ismoil was at one time a student at Wichita State University, according to Grissom. The then 22-year-old is the one who actually drove the Ryder truck into the public parking underneath the North Tower. But, another man, Ramzi Yousef lit the fuse and the bomb went off killing six people and wounding thousands more.

Another priority would be hate crimes, such as what happened to Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, and James Byrd, Jr. Both were killed because of hate and bias. Shepard because he was gay and Byrd because he was black. He says he can fight and prosecute these kinds of crimes under a law passed in their names. It’s called, “the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.” That means if you target someone specifically for being a gay, a minority or a certain religion, you can be prosecuted in federal court under this law.

Then there is the constant battle of fighting drug trafficking, and what is called, “Project Safe Neighborhood.” This involves illegal use of guns by those involved in crime.

Another rising concern is different types of fraud, and then what Grissom called an explosion of sexual exploitation of children on the internet.