AGO Public Safety Division
The Public Safety Division is involved in a wide range of criminal prosecutions at the trial level. Special prosecutors from the division assist Missouri's local prosecuting attorneys in serious or difficult trials and grand jury proceedings or are appointed by the court to handle trials in cases where the prosecuting attorney has a conflict of interest. In 2007, public safety attorneys handled 703 prosecutions in 90 of Missouri's counties and St. Louis.
UNITS IN THE PUBLIC SAFETY DIVISION
- The Meth Prosecution Unit
- The Meth Prosecution Unit of the Public Safety Division specializes in handling criminal cases involving the manufacture, sale or possession of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.
- The High Technology and Computer Crime Unit
- The High Technology and Computer Crime Unit investigates and prosecutes, through civil and criminal charges, illegal activity on the Internet and other computer-related areas. The unit has taken successful legal action in such areas as gambling, sale of alcohol to minors, harassment and prescription drugs. The unit also assists local prosecutors by providing them with technical and legal assistance.
- The Sexually Violent Predator Unit
- The Sexually Violent Predator Unit protects the public by seeking the civil commitment to the Missouri Department of Mental Health of sexual predators proven to have a mental abnormality that makes them more likely than not to commit more predatory acts of sexual violence. Missouri Sex Offender Registry.
- The Workers' Compensation Fraud Unit
- The Workers' Compensation Fraud Unit prosecutes fraud or misconduct involving workers' compensation on cases referred from the Missouri Division of Workers' Compensation.
- The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
- The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit prosecutes cases involving fraud of the Missouri Department of Social Services' Medicaid program by health professionals, or abuse or neglect of Medicaid recipients by caregivers. For more information, please see the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit's frequently asked questions page.
Attorneys in the division also serve as legal counsel for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol, Water Patrol and other state law enforcement agencies, and represent those agencies in all civil litigation in which they are a party.
When state felony convictions are challenged in federal court by petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, the division represents the state before the U.S. District Court, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. More than 300 federal habeas corpus petitions are filed and litigated each year.