A new six-part series called “48 Hours: NCIS” gives CBS viewers access to some of the biggest cases handled by the real-life Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Agents reveal step-by-step how they track killers, crack fraud cases, and hunt down terrorists using street smarts and technology. The federal government employs more than 1,200 special agents to do the work, protecting the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Even though the NCIS is part of the Department of the Navy, the special agents are civilian employees, stationed in every state and countries throughout the world.
NCIS star Rocky Carroll described the team as a very close family.
“In the make-believe world, we solve a case in an hour. At the end of the hour, you know, usually the bad guy gets brought to justice. In the real world, in the real cases of NCIS, some of these cases go on for months and for years. So, the sense of commitment and that sense of immediate closure doesn't always happen,” Carroll said.
Agents are on the hunt for some dangerous people. They’re wanted for everything from indecency with a child to desertion and rape.
If you’d like to help the NCIS track down some of the bad guys, check out their Most Wanted Fugitives gallery here.
The NCIS also works closely with local police departments and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help find active duty service members, or their children, when foul play is suspected.
You can view the Missing Persons gallery here.
The NCIS is headquartered on the Marine Corps Base at Quantico in Northern Virginia. Their investigators only handle major criminal cases, leaving the lower level crimes to Military Police and Naval Security.
NCIS was born as part of the Office of Naval Intelligence during World War I.
