The Major Crimes Unit is mostly a "request" unit meaning, most investigations are opened by request of another law enforcement agency or a district attorney. The Major Crimes Unit is tasked with investigating: violent crimes, crimes of fraud and theft, officer-involved uses-of-deadly force, deaths while in police custody, and other types of crime listed under Alabama law.
One such example is enforcement of the state's Digital Crime Act, specifically, misuse of the criminal justice information system. SBI has primary jurisdiction for investigating allegations of misuse of the CJIS network and these investigations are typically handled by the Major Crimes Unit. Agents of this unit also provide investigative support to other law enforcement agencies such as: crime scene processing, polygraph examinations, crisis negotiations, basic cell phone exploitation, and forensic composite sketch and reconstruction.