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THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
NEWS
9A
GOVERNMENT
Agencies quarrel over bomb cases
BY DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are feuding over bomb investigations — racing each other to crime scenes, failing to share information and refusing to train together, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report says Justice Department bosses have repeatedly failed to fix the problem.
The Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, has drafted a preliminary report on the two agencies' repeated squabbles to claim jurisdiction in investigations of explosives incidents across the country — from Times Square in New York City to Arizona and the West Coast.
The most recent documented spat came last December when the FBI protested a local prosecutor's request to use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate a blast that killed a local bomb technician in Woodburn, Ore.
FBI and ATF supervisors "tend to deploy their employees to the larger, more sensational explosives incidents, sometimes racing each other to be the first federal agency on the scene and disputing upon arrival which agency should lead the investigation," according to a draft version of the report.
"Such conflicts can delay investigations, undermine federal and local relationships, and may project to local agency responders a disjointed federal response to explosives incidents in their area," the draft report found.
Officials in both agencies' claim such problems have been resolved, yet the report stated that "disputes between the FBI and ATF continue to occur"
Changes and corrections are still being made to the draft document.
FRI and ATF officials did not
immediately comment. A Justice spokeswoman declined to comment on the draft.
The report, which analyzes the agencies' interactions from 2003 to early 2009, is expected to be released later this month, though an exact date was uncertain.
So-called "battles of the badges" between different law enforcement agencies are nothing new, but the ill will between FBI and ATF dates back decades and has survived the 2002 transfer of ATF from the Treasury Department to Justice.
Some had thought putting the agencies in the same department might end the feud, but the Justice Department has spent years trying to get the two sides to cooperate.
The inspector general said the problem is exacerbated by the fact that Justice Department instructions don't clearly spell out who is in charge of federal responses to crime scenes involving explosives.
The confusion lies in the mandate of each agency: The FBI is charged with investigating terrorism in any form and the ATF is charged with investigating incidents in which explosives were used as a weapon.
Often, it is hard to tell when police first arrive on the scene whether the motive behind a bomb or explosive device is terrorism or something else.
Traditionally, it has been the job of the No. 2 official at the Justice Department to resolve such issues, but the inspector general found that for years, deputy attorneys general have failed to do so, despite written instructions issued in 2004 and 2008.
"We believe it is critical that DOJ issue a new directive to clearly define lead investigative authority between the FBI and ATF and require coordination of investigative actions," the draft report recommends.
While the two agencies are supposed to be entering information into a joint database, the review found the FBI hasn't entered anything into the database since 2004.
Celebrating Independence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Army soldiers guard the area of events commemorating Honduras' 188 years of independence in Tequilapalpa on Tuesday. Honduras became independent from Spain on Sept. 15.
INTERNATIONAL
Mexico sees escalation of drug cartel violence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TJUANA, Mexico Firefighters have found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana, and 10 people were killed in two separate shootings in another northern Mexican border town besieged by drug violence.
Near Mexico's southern border, meanwhile, the bullet-ridden bodies of eight men suspected to be drug traffickers were found in a Guatemalan frontier town.
In Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, four bodies were found in a burning compact car's seats and two in the trunk, according to a police report Tuesday.
the motive for killings were not released, but the Mexican city is on a major route for drugs heading north and has recently seen a wave of violence between warring gangs. The bodies were found Monday night.
The victims' identities and
In Ciudad Juarez, gunmen opened fire inside a hardware store, killing the woman who owned the store and four other people, including a 19-year-old man, the regional attorney general's office said. Minutes later, an armed gang killed five men riding in a pickup truck.
midst of an intense turf battle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels.
Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is Mexico's deadliest city with more than 1,300 killings so far this year. The city is in the
Officials held a ceremony for 1,200 Mexican army soldiers who were being withdrawn from Ciudad Juarez. The troops were part of a contingent sent there earlier this year to fight crime while the city trained more police officers.
The military has trained 1,027 police officers for the city, which now has a police force of 3,025 officers, about a third larger than its previous size.
President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 troops to drug hotspots since taking office in 2006. Drug violence has
since surged, claiming more than 13,500 lives across Mexico.
CRIME
The bodies in Guatemala were found in the San Marcos region, which has become a major transit point for cocaine shipments that often are left at sea to be picked up by local traffickers and smuggled into Mexico.
Police spokesmanuan Choguix said the eight men were suspected of being drug smugglers.
Guatemala has been increasingly plagued by drug violence mirroring Mexico's gang wars. Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has blamed the drug trade for many the 6,200 homicides that occurred in the Central American country last year.
Five arrested after raids in dogfighting crackdown
BY CHERYL WITTENAUER
ASSOCIATED FOOTBALLER
Fay, a 5-year-old pit bull, appears to snarl when she lips were ripped from her face in a dogfight. She was rescued during a multirate raid July 8.
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Fay looks menacing as her teeth jut out from a mouth without lips, which have been ripped from her face along with part of her nose during vicious dogfights.
But the 5-year-old black American pit bull terrier, one of the pitiful casualties of an illegal practice, wags her tail relentlessly and offers her scarred body to be petted by strangers. She cuddles easily in the arms of a caretaker.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
After the first guilty pleas from the largest coordinated multistate raids on dogfighting in U.S. history, the Humane Society of Missouri offered a first look this week at some of the hundreds of dogs seized in the July 8 raids and puppies born since.
The Missouri group alerted the government to the dogfighting 18 months ago and coordinated rescues in two of the states.
Humane Society video of the bust showed dogs missing ears and whole legs, or bearing deep scars and puncture wounds. It chronicle canines, some appearing malnourished, tethered on 2-inch wide collars to 25-pound log chains attached to spikes on dirt pads or overgrown weed patches. In some cases, the dogs' water supply was green with algae.
"We saw severely mutilated dogs missing eyes, ears and limbs," said Tim Rickey, director of the Humane Society of Missouri's anti-cruelty task force. "Their condition is bad enough, but to know that three-legged dogs were forced to fight for their survival is too much."
Four eastern Missouri men arrested as part of a federal crackdown pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and other crimes, admitting their roles in breeding, training, trafficking, fighting and
destroying pit bulls in a lucrative dogfighting network.
The four, along with a fifth codedefendant who pleaded guilty Sept. 4, were the first convictions from the raids. Authorities arrested 26 people and seized more than 500 dogs in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas.
Agents also seized dog conditioning equipment and "rape stands" used to strap females into place to be bred. Rickey said breeding is a critical part of the industry because fighting dogs don't live long, and new pups are needed to replenish the supply.
It's a bleak future for any dog that fights, win or lose, he said.
"The quitter gets killed, and the survivor, after two hours of fighting for his life, is taken home without medical attention and left to die in one or two days," Rickey said.
The Humane Society has more than 400 dogs taken from suspects in eastern and western Missouri and southern Illinois, and another 100 puppies born since the raids. About 100 more seized in the other states are being held by other groups.
Federal judges will determine who has rightful claims to the confiscated dogs.
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