By Sandra Svoboda
ROSECUTION
AND PREVENTION
U.s. Attorney McQuade, ’91, works on fighting crime and building relationships in the community Her tenure as U.S. Attorney began with a would-be underwear-bomber trying to blow up a plane over her district a day after she was confirmed by the Senate. Her office’s successful prosecution of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick made headlines around the world.
Enhancing community involvement is a cornerstone of McQuade’s work on several levels. When she speaks publicly, she describes her office’s three-pronged efforts of enforcement, prevention, and community trust, emphasizing to her audiences that she needs their help.
So it’s easy to see why the enforcement side of the job is what many people know about Barbara McQuade, ’91, who became U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2010. But there’s much more to her work, says McQuade, who focuses her community-outreach efforts on trying to prevent crimes from happening in the first place.
Getting that message out to immigrants is one of her primary goals. Last winter, for example, she joined officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as immigration lawyers, at a forum to educate immigration advocates about how to track down and report fraud and malpractice. Victims of an attorney who wrongfully promises visas, gives inaccurate advice, or promotes websites that give false hope may be breaking laws, and McQuade urged the audience to report their suspicions when they have them.
“I’m really convinced that most of the violence is caused by a fairly small percentage of people in any big city, including Detroit,” she says. “So if we can get the right offenders off the street, we should be able to reduce violent crime.” While much of her daily work is focused on criminals who aren’t household names, McQuade acknowledges that the successful prosecution of Kilpatrick—who is serving 28 years in federal prison for two dozen felony counts, including mail and wire fraud and racketeering— was a significant step in the city’s efforts to move forward. “That case is incredibly important,” she says, “because one of the things that Detroit needs to be successful is an accountable government. It was very important to hold him accountable to let people know that they can have trust in their institutions. Public corruption erodes public trust and causes people to become cynical and sends people to the sidelines.” Meanwhile, health care fraud prosecutions are up, and national security remains a top priority alongside her focus on violent crimes, which may matter most to ordinary citizens in the city. Under the community outreach aspect of her job, she focuses on investing time in communication, relationships, and information sharing.
“The idea is to help folks not become victims. We don’t want them to be taken advantage of by immigration laws. They are a very vulnerable population, and we want to protect them,” she told the audience. “We have tried to work hard, but I know we have more work to do so we can build those relationships … so people trust us enough to come forward.” McQuade also uses a community-involvement strategy to help address violent crime throughout eastern Michigan— specifically in Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw, where federal law enforcement works with local officers, partially funded with state money. In early 2013, McQuade also was part of the creation of Detroit One, which brings together law enforcement and people in the community to make the city safer. With 387 homicides in Detroit in 2012, McQuade and leaders of the Detroit Police Department, as well as other federal, state, and local agencies, developed a strategy to reduce violent crime. With increased information sharing, joint task forces to target the most violent or notorious offenders, and other efforts, some of the “worst of the worst” criminals have been arrested and prosecuted. But the Detroit One effort isn’t just about arresting and prosecuting, McQuade says. “We’re trying to get down to the underlying causes of crime and prevent them from
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