New FBI leader spent years investigating gang violence. What that means for Louisville

Michael Stansbury knows gang violence. The FBI agent busted up gangs in South Carolina and saw how they work in Los Angeles. He knows they exist in Louisville.

“Whether you're in LA, or you're in Columbia, South Carolina, or you're in Louisville, Kentucky, wherever you are, the activity’s the same — the criminal element, the gangs," Stansbury said. "You might just have more people."

In late 2023, Stansbury was tapped to be special agent in charge of the FBI's Louisville Field Office - the agency's highest-ranking criminal investigator for the area.

Stansbury comes to Louisville with more than two decades of experience in the FBI, primarily working in combatting gang violence and violent crime.

A few months into his leadership position, Stansbury isn't daunted by the city's gang activity, which city officials like Mayor Craig Greenberg say is linked to about 30% of Louisville's homicides.

"The problem is the same, and the way you have to deal with it is exactly the same,” Stansbury said.

'You were on drug dealer time'

Stansbury's first taste of law enforcement was as an officer with the Terrell Texas Police Department. It was later, as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, that the opportunity to interview with the FBI several hundreds of miles away happened.

He didn't take it seriously.

"I thought: 'It's a free trip. I've never been to Kansas City before,'" Stansbury said.

When he was offered a spot in the federal agency, Stansbury had to reevaluate his career and his entire future. He had planned to stay in Texas, but this opportunity meant moving away and starting over in Quantico, Virginia, as an academy student, then starting over again where he was placed.

"I told myself: 'You know, 30 years from now, I don't want to look back and I've turned this down and missed an opportunity,'" Stansbury said.

His 23-year career in the FBI includes overseeing federal task forces and gang investigations across the western region of the United States as well as serving as a section chief in the Directorate of Intelligence.

While there are adrenaline-heavy moments, work in the FBI isn't always like television.

“There’s a lot of day-to-day office work and things that get you to those 10 seconds of excitement,” he said.

But Stansbury doesn't like the office. He prefers to walk the streets, building relationships within the community and convincing people to work with the agency to stop local crime.

"People want to live in a safe community," he said.

It's what he saw in his first post in Columbia, where he investigated crimes related to gangs, drugs and violence for 10 years.

It didn't feel like an office job.

"Sometimes you were out at midnight (or) one o’clock in the morning," Stansbury said. "You were on drug dealer time.”

But the work was worth it.

“I have never had an investigation where, after we took the group down or the gang or the drug trafficking group down, that someone wasn't very thankful in that neighborhood or that community about the work that we did," Stansbury said. "And so I got a great sense of accomplishment out of that.”

He plans to use that experience and those strategies in Kentucky.

'You’re not going to police your way out of these problems'

When a criminal group or gang is taken off the streets, the work is not finished.

"Typically, things would die down for about six months and then somebody else is coming in,” Stansbury said.

He doesn't get discouraged though because it's the nature of society. Where there's a gap in a community for criminal activity, "it is going to be filled. It always is."

But there's a difference between some criminal activity in an area and letting crime overrun a community.

“All we're really doing in law enforcement is like keeping the lid on the pot. We're just keeping it from boiling over," Stansbury said. "You’re not going to police your way out of these problems. But you have to have police to keep it at a manageable level to where people feel safe.”

That feeling has been a difficult conversation for many in Louisville, which saw 2023 end with triple-digit homicides for the third consecutive year.

"Our drug laws in the past have always been very strong. By being able to use those, as these groups are engaged in the drug trafficking business, you're catching them a lot of times before they commit the more serious crimes, the violent crimes, before they commit the murders," Stansbury said.

By connecting with LMPD, the FBI can arrest those affiliated with large criminal organizations and go after those involved at every level of the enterprise — not just those at the bottom rung.

"If you're in federal prison, you can't be shooting people on the corner," Stansbury said.

Stansbury's goals for Louisville's FBI office in 2024

In addition to focusing more on wiretapping and undercover investigative activity, Stansbury wants to bring people together — inside the agency and in the community.

Stansbury said he'd like to add more effort into approaching violent crime and gang investigations in a more team-based approach rather than letting cases be isolated to one agent.

He also wants to connect with community leaders who aren't as close to the agency.

"How do we get those people engaged? How do we get people that might not have a positive view of the FBI or law enforcement in general?" Stansbury said. "How do we get them over to — maybe we're not going to change their minds — but at least knowing that hey, we're not necessarily the enemy. They may not always agree with everything we do or why we do it or what we do, but we're not the enemy and they can have an open dialogue with us and they can come to us."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: FBI special agent in charge talks 2024 goals for Louisville office