law enforcement

KN, p. 233 “Do you want to be an FBI Agent? Part 1”

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A few months ago, I had the privilege of chatting with two retired FBI agents, Bucky and Chris Cox. They had spoken at a Sisters in Crime event and their story was so interesting that I wanted to know more. Research for the FBI articles, “What Does the FBI Do?” “The Road to Quantico,” and “FBI Training at Quantico,” was nearly finished, but interviews with people that had actually done the job gave a human face to one of the most famous law enforcement agencies in the world.

 

They shared that as many as 14-16K FBI applicants from a variety of professions compete for 600 jobs. Your background skillset is important for the available slots, but the FBI will teach you what else you need to know in order to conduct investigations.

 

Bucky is former military and became a police officer while he worked his way through school. He wanted to be an FBI agent from the time he was 11 years old and his dream was realized when he went through a 16 week training program at Quantico in the class of 1973. There was lots of physical work during the instruction, but in actuality, most of the course was academic. His class was made up of all white males.

 

Academy training gives you a taste of what you will need to succeed and you also get an idea of what you like/want to do in the FBI. It’s possible to spend an entire career focused in one area of law enforcement (i.e. intelligence work) but often, agents might have 10-15 different jobs within the agency.

 

Bucky started with property crime in the L.A. office; one case involved someone ripping off lobster tails from shipments from Australia. Among his memorable assignments were:

 

  • Drug operations
  • Kidnapping cases
  • The Uni-bomber case
  • Working with other agencies in information sharing
  • Internal FBI Inspections (comparisons and improvements of/to places, people, and cases)
  • Mentoring younger agents
  • Using his own initiative and imagination

 

Chris began as an English Lit Major in college. Upon graduation from college, she entered into a retail management program at a local department store, then became an assistant buyer for a year. She returned to graduate school and obtained a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work (MSW). Around that time, the work world changed for women due to legislation that was passed, and women were accepted into law enforcement. Chris entered duty with the FBI in 1978 at Quantico, becoming one of the earliest female FBI agents. Calling upon her experience as a clinical social worker, she was able to use those skills as an Agent, while conducting interviews to flesh out backgrounds and uncover motives. She worked in a variety of areas at the beginning, including organized crime and bank robberies, but was eventually assigned full time to foreign counter terrorism.

 

Chris is currently a retired member of the bar in: NY, NJ, CT, D.C., and the Supreme Court. While assigned to the Legal Counsel Division at FBIHQ, she handled internal administrative cases and also conducted legal research in areas affecting the FBI. On occasion, she worked with her counterparts at the Department of Justice if their cases reached district court level. She was promoted to Unit Chief at FBIHQ, then went to the field as a Squad supervisor, and finally, as an Assistant Agent in Charge (ASAC) of a large field office.

 

Read on for some nuts and bolts details they shared about working as FBI agents.

 

When does the FBI get involved in a case?

Crossing state lines during the commission of a crime is the main criteria for determining when the FBI can be involved. As a general rule, they are invited to participate, especially in kidnapping cases. They don’t storm into town and take over cases as some TV shows and movies would have you believe. The FBI frequently works with other agencies in providing investigative information, resources, and expertise to them. Of special note: the FBI and the DEA have concurrent jurisdiction in drug cases. This also happens when working with local police departments on bank robberies/bank burglaries.

 

 

Field Offices and the Details of the Job

All 50 states have either a field office or a resident agent. There are squads within each field office and each supervisor will have at least eight Special Agents on a squad. The larger the office, the more specialized the jobs; the smaller the office, the more parts of the case you get to touch; Some offices are small offshoots of the field office, where four or five people and a secretary work arm-in-arm with the local police department and have more interaction with the public. In a larger office, you might be transferred or loaned between squads if your skill sets are needed for different cases. In addition to the 56 field offices and 350 satellite offices in the USA, the FBI has 60 international offices, called legal attaches, located in U.S. embassies around the world.

 

Good Surveillance requires at least five or six agents on the ground. In addition, some operations require agents in the air – the pilot watches the ground and the co-pilot watches for other aircraft.

 

We all see credentials being flashed by law enforcement personnel on TV. The FBI credentials must be carried by the agents 24/7 and they are told/trained to never give them up. There are career consequences to losing them.

 

Working at the FBI does not pay nearly as well as the private sector. Agents are paid on the GS (General Schedule) scale or SES (Senior Executive Services) scale. Incremental raises are based on years served. There is now a pay adjustment for the field office location (housing is MUCH more expensive in NYC than in Montana), as well as more overtime paid than there used to be for those round-the-clock hours needed on rapidly unfolding cases. The recent government shutdown seriously affected the FBI with mandatory furloughs and hampered its ability to work on all aspects of the cases currently under investigation. The FBI is a federal agency, so is paid in the same fashion and from the same coffers as other federal employees. A three month gap in paychecks may not happen often, but can be a serious consideration when looking at steady employment options.

 

Agents are trained to work the case in systematic ways. Among other strategies, they conduct interviews, knock on doors, circulate photos if needed, or collect/compare fingerprints. They continue to investigate until they and the DOJ attorney feel they have enough to successfully prosecute.

 

FBI are investigators who can make arrests after a thorough investigation indicates probable cause to believe that a suspect has committed the crime of which he/she is being accused. Before the arrest warrant can be issued, a US Attorney reviews an affidavit requesting the arrest warrant and then a Judge reviews and signs off on it if he/she agrees. There is an arrest plan, so that the arrest itself is conducted as safely and efficiently as possible. An agent does not make an arrest on his/her own. There are at least two levels of management involved in the decision.

 

Training never stops. Back in the 70s, the sixteen week course at Quantico touched on a little bit of everything, including classroom work, photography, tire casting, intelligence, and investigation of violent crimes. Now there are forensic teams in law enforcement, cybercrime affecting all of us, and world-wide terrorism. The training has evolved to meet today’s demands. Quantico training is not just for entering agents, however. If a class is being offered to active agents or the boss says ‘I need you to attend,’ agents can be selected for in-service training. There is some on the job instruction, but agents do go back to school for specialized areas or even refresher courses.

 

Bucky and Chris Cox continued to provide a wealth of details about working for the FBI.

Stay tuned for: “Do you want to be an FBI agent? – Part 2”

 

Photo credits:  official FBI photos

 

 

 

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KN, p. 167 “What does a U.S. Marshal do?”

 

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The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) has been around for over 230 years, created by the first Congress to protect/serve the federal courts and make sure the orders of the President, Congress, and Judges were carried out across the United States. It is the country’s oldest federal law enforcement agency.

I never thought of US Marshals as census takers, but up until 1870 they did that in addition to arresting fugitives and serving subpoenas. Over the years they have also been asked by Congress and the President to capture fugitive slaves, swap spies with the Soviet Union, chase the bad guys, control riots – the basic idea being to help the government run more smoothly when nobody else has been quite qualified to do the job across State lines.

An interesting aspect of their history is that at first, US Marshals answered to the Secretary of State. In 1861, they fell under the Attorney General’s office and then in 1961, became an entity of their own with a Chief Marshal in charge. It has always been the enforcement arm of the federal courts and operates within the Department of Justice. 

The 94 US Marshals are appointed by the President and handle the enforcement duties for the 94 federal court districts and the 12 circuits of the US Court of Appeals. They employ over 5,200 deputy Marshals, criminal investigators, administrative employees, and detention enforcement officers. They are in charge of:

  • Judicial Security
  • Fugitive Operations
  • Asset Forfeiture
  • Prisoner Transportation
  • Witness Security

 

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Judicial Security

Since the federal courts preside over cases that involve terrorists groups, organized crime, and other presumed seriously dangerous defendants as well as high profile extortion/fraud cases, the judges, lawyers, and even litigants involved are sometimes the target of violence.

It’s the job of the US Marshal Service to prevent the violence and also to protect the public, witnesses, jurors, prisoners, and innocent bystanders.

In addition, the USMS: 

  • Coordinates security for judicial conferences.
  • Protects Supreme Court justices and the deputy Attorney General outside of Washington.
  • Provides support to the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service with protective details for foreign officials while the U.N. is in session.
  • Manages the security services that provide court security officers who screen visitors at building entrances.
  • Provides information to federal, state, local, and international law enforcement partners about judicial security, including threat assessment and training.

Fugitive Operations

In 2015, the USMS arrested over 99,000 fugitives.

They cleared over 119,000 warrants.

Asset Forfeiture

The Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program seeks to disrupt criminal actions by taking away the means of doing business, while returning property to its rightful owners.

The U.S. Marshals Service helps identify and evaluate the proceeds of crime. They manage and sometimes auction off items as varied as real estate, businesses, cars, jewelry, art, antiques, boats, and planes.

Proceeds from the sales go to operate the program, reimburse victims, and fund various law enforcement operations.

Some of the other agencies that participate in the Asset Forfeiture Program are: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; FBI; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Food and Drug Administration; Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General.

Prisoner Transportation

In 2015, over 261,000 prisoners were transported by air and on land by the USMS.

The U.S. Marshals’ Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System handles over 700 cases a day between judicial districts and correctional institutions in the U.S., for the purpose of getting witnesses to trial or prisoners to jail.

JPATS has its own fleet of aircraft to move prisoners over long distances and is the only government-operated, regularly-scheduled passenger airline in the USA. Both military and civilian law enforcement agencies can use the planes for their prisoner transport – if space is available and only if the USMS is reimbursed.

Witness Security

The U.S. Marshals Service operates the federal Witness Security Program, sometimes called the Witness Protection Program, or WitSec.

Its primary role is to protect government witnesses and their immediate family members (sometimes innocent bystanders and sometimes criminals themselves) whose lives are in danger because of their cooperation in investigations and trials.

For more information about the US Marshal Service, visit www.usmarshals.gov

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Future posts will discuss:

  • Qualifications and training needed to become a US Marshal
  • WitSec

 

 

*Photo credit: Wikipedia

 

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Visiting Detective Rainy Dale – “Encounter with Rainy Dale and Friends”

 

Sheila and Charlie Kerrian thoroughly enjoy their cross-country road trips, and besides taking loads of photos of the breathtaking landscapes, have met some truly intriguing people in law enforcement. There was the newspaper owner/editor Ava Logan; the psychic puzzler, Lexi Sobado; the 1880s midwife, Rose Carroll; the vegetarian detective, Becky Greene; and the time traveling sheriff, Will Denton – an eclectic bunch of crime fighters to be sure.


This trip was all about seeing the Pacific Northwest. Sheila’s parents had lived in Tacoma, Washington, for a while and spoke fondly of their time in the area. The plan was to fly out to Seattle, stop in as many coffee shops as they could (Charlie ran out of time well before running out of coffee shops to visit) and then travel by rental car through Oregon and on to California. A break in the drive in the middle of Oregon’s majestic scenery took them to the Cascade Kitchen.


Meet Rainy Dale and friends, in ranch and horse country Oregon:

“Twenty-seven hundred miles from home, Charlie and Sheila marvel at Oregon’s land between the Cascade Mountains and the high desert. Traveling through the central part of the state showcases the transition of coastal fir, spruce and cedar giving way to pine and sage. Black-ribbed buttes thrust out of the sandy loam. The last road sign announces their entry into (fictional) Butte County.


Hunger calls and they pull off the two-lane highway in the pokey little town of Cowdry where they find an unlikely-looking diner called the Cascade Kitchen. Farmland abuts the back of the truck-choked, gravel parking lot. A gleaming red horse stands at the hitching rail. Yes, there’s a hitching rail behind the diner and this horse’s reins are loosely swirled around the thick wood crossbeam. The animal seems perfectly happy to wait there, head low, eyes half-closed, one hip cocked. Maybe the restaurant offers oatmeal to go, perhaps with extra brown sugar.


Inside, garden variety décor screams mere diner, with a wooden sign suggesting they seat themselves. The vinyl booths are dinner-rush-full, but wow—at the first table, a good old boy in overalls and a baseball cap bearing the John Deere emblem is ripping into a ruby red bell pepper with fork and knife. Wild rice, sugar snap peas, and sausage spill out. Stuffed peppers in a diner!

Two seats are open at the lunch counter next to a young woman in jeans and a flannel shirt.

Why is she biting into a hamburger when better food is served here? Charlie and Sheila wonder as they climb onto the last available twirly stools.

The young woman makes eye contact via the mirrored wall facing the lunch counter, then turns to face them.

“You’re new here. Are you moving in? D’you have horses?” She pulls a business card from her shirt pocket and slides it down the counter in front of them.

Sheila and Charlie inspect the card together. Rainy Dale, horseshoer.

“You’re a horseshoer?” Charlie asks.

A chuckle erupts from the uniformed deputy on the other side of the young woman. Charlie and Sheila look at the mix of people sitting on Rainy Dale’s other side. Two uniformed deputies, a middle-aged man with a crew cut and a young woman with a tight French braid who looks about Rainy’s age, probably young twenties, are finishing their plates. The chuckle came from the male deputy, who nods and says, “She thinks she’s a horseshoeing detective.”

“A horseshoeing detective?” Sheila asks. “That’s a thing?”

A ponytail keeps Rainy’s long brown hair out of her plate as she leans forward and uses both hands to stuff the last bite into her mouth. She looks at Sheila in the mirrored wall and nods.

Charlie reaches for the laminated menu. One burger option is local, grass-fed beef.

A tall, blond young man in a chef’s shirt comes through the swinging doors from the kitchen, plates in each hand. “A sample of blackened spears of butternut squash drizzled in maple-infused vinegar.”

Rainy smiles and wrinkles her nose.  “Guy, that looks and sounds suspiciously like vegetables.”

“I’ll try it,” the male deputy says.

Charlie studies the man’s uniform—it’s slightly different from what the woman is wearing. The man’s shoulder patch reads Deputy above the shield, Butte County below. The young woman’s sleeve has two lines above the cloth badge. Reserve Deputy.

The horseshoer and the reserve deputy give each other the stink eye in the mirror. What kind of ire lurks between them?

Guy, the cook, fires up a tiny butane hand torch that hisses as he caramelizes sugar on a small, perfect-looking crème brulée. The scent of browning sugar wafts over them, making Charlie and Sheila think of eating dessert first. Guy carries the dessert to the man at the first table.

Charlie wonders how many homicides the deputy has investigated.

“How many sworn officers are in your Sheriff’s Department?” he asks over Rainy’s head.

(This is how law enforcement officers compare department size—by the number of sworn and non-sworn employees.)

The regular deputy nods as though recognizing he’s likely talking to a brother officer. “Twelve deputies in a county of seven thousand square miles. About as many people as square miles.”

Charlie whistles. “That’s not really enough personnel for full twenty-four-hour coverage. How do you patrol that much land with so few deputies?”

The deputy jerks a thumb to the young woman seated beside him. “With reservists like her.”

The reserve deputy quits making faces at the horseshoer and sips her soda.

This is the modern American West. More going on than would appear at first glance. Maybe Charlie and Sheila will stay a night or two.”

*****

Many thanks to Lisa Preston for stopping by and introducing Rainy Dale, horseshoer, to the Kerrian’s Notebook readers. Rainy is a truly original voice, with a talent for sizing up people and their horses. Horses kick and people get dead around her, but….. 🙂

Click on the link and let Rainy tell her story in “The Clincher.”

The Clincher

 

 

 

http://www.lisapreston.com/Clincher.html

 

 

 

 

“The Clincher,” is the debut novel for Preston’s Rainy Dale horseshoer series. An important scene in the book mentions a practical application of the sport of “Ride & Tie,” and the photo above shows Preston competing in a real life Ride & Tie race. Although her experience and love of horses and other animals did not start out to be research for any of her books, the knowledge gained throughout her globetrotting life flows richly on the pages.

 

VisitingDetectiveRainyDale-LisaPreston

Lisa Preston began writing after careers as a fire department paramedic and a city police officer. She was first published in nonfiction, with titles on animal care, such as The Ultimate Guide to Horse Feed, Supplements and Nutrition. Her debut novel, Orchids and Stone, (Thomas & Mercer, 2016), has been described as a book club thriller, or domestic noir. Her psychological suspense novel, The Measure of the Moon, (Thomas & Mercer, 2017) was also a book club pick. The Clincher (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018) debuted her mystery series featuring a young woman horseshoer. She lives with her husband in western Washington.

 

Please visit www.lisapreston.com for links to her bestselling books and more about this multi-faceted author of both non-fiction (animals and their care) and fiction.

 

 

 

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