By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Speaking publicly for the first time since announcing his retirement as Birmingham’s top-ranked FBI agent, Carlton Peeples on Wednesday said that agents focus on doing their jobs regardless of which administration occupies the White House.
Last week, Peeples announced that he will retire as Special Agent in Charge of the Birmingham Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) effective Friday, (March 28), after more than 27 years of service to the FBI and more than 30 years of government service.
His retirement comes just two months after Donald Trump assumed the office of U.S. President and a little after a month after Kash Patel became Director of the FBI.
Speaking at his final meeting of the Community Engagement Council (CEC), a group of more the two dozen that includes clergy, professors, educators in a room with members of his staff, Peeples said all new administrations are expected to bring change, but what doesn’t change is how agents do their job which is to “uphold the Constitution and protect people,” he said.
For nearly two hours Peeples fielded questions from the CEC, some wondering whether the group would remain intact given moves by the White House to rollback diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives throughout the country. Peeples said the CEC was a group open to all members of the community and created to dispel myths about the FBI as an agency just kicks down doors to arrest criminals.
In response to one question about Civil Rights enforcement, Peeples said he’s seen the Bureau increase efforts in the area. “Civil Rights went from about 60 agents when I started in 1998 to about 151 in 2007 [when he left the division] and has grown and become a national priority,” he said. “I don’t think that will change going forward.”
Peeples entered on duty as an FBI special agent in 1998. After training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, his first assignment was to the Washington Field Office. During his career, as a special agent, Peeples worked counterintelligence, public corruption, civil rights, violent crime, and gang investigations and served on the Washington Field Office SWAT team.
In November 2022 he was appointed to lead the FBI Birmingham Division. Peeples did not say what he would do next, but said he planned to be in Birmingham for at least another year until his daughter graduates from high school.
He told the CEC on Wednesday that his time with the Birmingham office was “filled with joy and everything that comes with it, even the challenges. This was not about me, but continuing to make Birmingham a better place,” he said. “I want to thank you for making my life easier and I look forward to working with you going forward.”
