Use "Ctrl F" [control F]
to FIND what you're looking for. "Right Click" - "Open in New
Window." to avoid reloading this page.
2002 Law Enforcement News:
20021209
"Congress
probes irregularities at Los Alamos: UC asked
to turn over records relating to cases of theft, fraud." ... "Congressional
investigators, following up on a criminal probe launched by the FBI, have
asked the University of California for dozens of records relating to allegations
of illegal procurement practices, theft and misuse of government funds
at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico." -Dan
Morgan-WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
20021207
- "Two
Van Gogh paintings stolen: Thieves enter Amsterdam
museum by roof; values unknown." ... "Thieves broke into Amsterdam’s Van
Gogh Museum overnight and stole two paintings by the legendary 19th century
Dutch artist, police said Saturday." -AP
via -MSNBC
"Feds
Raid Software Firm." ... "Federal agents who raided
a Quincy, Mass., software firm Thursday night continue to look for monetary
connections to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but sources say the firm's
software appears safe." ... "Ptech Inc., a developer of business-process
modeling software, was raided late Thursday night by U.S. Customs Service
agents, according to law enforcement officials. But initial concerns that
the company's technology may have compromised the security of its customers,
which include the FBI, the Department of Energy, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, the Navy, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration
and the U.S. House of Representatives, now appear unfounded, according
to authorities." (1, 2)
-By Renee Boucher Ferguson, Dennis Fisher and Chris
Gonsalves -eWEEK
20021204
- Bali
bombings - "Indonesians
nab alleged terror chief." ... "Indonesian police
said Wednesday they had arrested the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah
[JI], an al-Qaeda-linked group widely blamed for attacks throughout Southeast
Asia, including blasts that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island
of Bali." ... "Investigators hope the arrest of Mukhlas, also known as
Ali Gufron, will shed light on the shadowy group and expose the extent
of al-Qaeda's reach in the world's most populous Muslim nation."
-AP via -USATODAY
- "Police
patrol riot-hit Timor." ... "Police, backed by U.N.
peacekeepers, are patrolling the East Timorese capital Dili after a violent
outbreak of rioting by students in the newly-independent nation." ... "The
clashes broke out Wednesday morning after a group of high school students
went to East Timor's parliament to protest the arrest of a fellow student
a day earlier, according to the prime minister's office.": ... "A group
of former guerilla fighters -- who have staged recent protests against
the country's high unemployment level -- reportedly attended the students'
protest and started throwing rocks, which led to the violence."
-CNN /World
20021203
TIA:
Total Information Awareness
-
-
- "Why
the Pentagon will watch where you shop: New
Total Information Awareness project will sniff company databases for terrorists."
... "Should Uncle Sam know as much about you as MasterCard does?" ... "In
essence, that may be the key question posed by the Pentagon's new Total
Information Awareness (TIA) project." ... "This effort - whose Latin motto
[Scientia Est Potentia] translates as "knowledge is power" - aims to create
huge databases that sift through the purchases, travel, immigration status,
income, and other data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Its purpose:
to sniff out the terrorists among us." ... ""There are three parts to the
TIA project," says Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition,
technology, and logistics." ... "The first part of the technology is voice
recognition, which would include sifting through electronically recorded
transmissions and provide rapid translations of foreign languages." ...
"The second part is to develop a tool that would discover connections between
transactions, such as passports, airline tickets, rental cars, gun or chemical
purchases, as well as arrests and other suspicious activities." ... "And
the third part is collaborative - a mechanism to allow information-and
analysis-sharing among agencies." ... ""If [the testing] proves useful,"
Mr. Aldridge says, "TIA will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence,
and law enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle
against domestic terrorism."" -By Faye Bowers and
Peter Grier
-CSMonitor/buy
20021115
"FBI
warns of risk of al-Qaida attack." ... "Two days
after intelligence experts said an audiotaped threat indicated terror mastermind
Osama bin Laden was still alive, the FBI has warned that al-Qaida is likely
to attempt a “spectacular” attack intended to inflict large-scale casualties
and damage the U.S. economy. The warning was unusual because of its dire
language, but NBC’s Pete Williams reported that the alert was not based
on any new alarming information, and officials described it as the latest
in a regular series of warnings it sends out to local law enforcement officers."
... "The FBI law enforcement bulletin circulated Thursday to officials
nationwide contains no information about the timing, location or method
of a possible attack." -MSNBC
20021111
- Bali
bombings - "Bali
Suspect Said Student of Cleric Prime Suspect in Bali:
Bombings Studied Under Militant Muslim Cleric, Investigator Says." ...
"A top investigator on Monday said the prime suspect in the Bali bombings
studied under a detained Muslim cleric who heads the group that foreign
intelligence services blame for the attack." ... "Police have been trying
to establish a link between Amrozi and Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual
leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah organization, since they arrested Amrozi
last week." ... "Bashir is currently detained for a series of church bombings
in 2000. He has not been named a suspect in the Bali blasts."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20021110
- Bali
bombings - "10
now sought in Bali probe." ... "Bali bombing suspect,
Amrozi, has given police several names of others linked to the attack,
including his brothers, friends and co-workers, police sources said Sunday."
... "Several of those wanted by police include foreigners, according to
intelligence sources." ... "Police spokesman Edward Aritonang said, while
Amrozi has admitted to knowing Ba'asyir and another JI leader, Riduan Isamuddin
-- also known as Hambali -- he has not mentioned their involvement in the
Bali attack." -Report contributed to by Atika Shubert
-CNN /World
/Asia
20021109
TIA:
Total Information Awareness -
- "Pentagon
Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans."
... "As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described
the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence
analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information
from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions
and travel documents, without a search warrant." ... "Historically, military
and intelligence agencies have not been permitted to spy on Americans without
extraordinary legal authorization." ... "In order to deploy such a system,
known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed,
some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland
Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend
the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies
could do with private information." (1, 2)
-By John Markoff -NYTimes
via -LawMeme
20021108
- Bali
bombings - "Americans
were the target of Bali bombings, investigator says, citing key suspect."
... "The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi
has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin,
also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers." ...
"Blame for the attack is increasingly turning to Jemaah Islamiyah the al-Qaida
linked terror group said to be seeking a pan-Islamic state in Southeast
Asia." ... "Two security experts citing militant and intelligence sources
said Friday that Jemaah Islamiyah leaders met in southern Thailand earlier
this year and agreed to target tourist venues like the Bali nightclubs.""
-By Steven Gutkin -AP
via -Boston/Globe
20021107
- Bali
bombings
- "Van
owner 'confesses' to planting Bali bomb." ... "Indonesian
police say a suspect has confessed during interrogation to being part of
a group that planted the Bali nightclub bomb that killed more than 180
people." ... "National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar said the man, named only
as Amrozi, told interrogators that he was involved in planting a bomb in
a minivan used in the October 12 attack on the Sari Club in the resort
town of Kuta." ... "The massive blast caused by the car bomb was one of
three coordinated explosions which investigators say were designed to inflict
maximum casualties." -CNN
20021104
- "Interior
Department Struggles to Upgrade Its Police Forces."
... "The Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, the Hoover Dam and
half of the Alaska pipeline are all protected against terrorist attack
and other threats by police forces that auditors have long described as
ill trained, poorly managed, dysfunctional and, in some instances, corrupt."
... "The department has more than 4,300 officers in seven agencies, including
the United States Park Police, the National Park Service and the Bureau
of Land Management. They are responsible for protecting most of the nation's
historic icons, like Mount Rushmore and the Washington Monument, some of
which have been the target of terrorist threats in the last year. But few
of the agencies have intelligence or terrorism offices, or the ability
to gather crime and enforcement statistics." (1, 2)
-By Joel Brinkley -NYTimes
via -Google-News
20021023
Sniper
- "Sniper
search: a communication strategy: A man was
fatally shot Tuesday at a Maryland bus stop, as police continue to seek
contact with the killer." ... "As the sniper investigation grinds on, the
issue of communication among the shooter, the police, and the media has
emerged as one of the most intriguing yet exasperating facets of the case."
... ""The media are not just sitting off to the side reporting this case.
They are an active member of this complex dynamic between perpetrator,
victim, and law enforcement, and how they conduct themselves in that mix
will impact how the outcome plays out," says Jerrold Post, a psychology
expert at George Washington University and a former CIA profiler." -By
Gail Russell Chaddock -CSMonitor/buy
20021022
Sniper
- "Police
Ask Caller in the Sniper Make Contact." ... "In a
fitful effort at communication through the public airwaves, the police
disclosed that the person they are desperately trying to reach — the sniper
himself, in the view of many detectives — had made his own telephone call
to them since a note was left on Saturday at the scene of the latest shooting,
in Ashland, Va." ... "No details of the Ponderosa Steakhouse note have
been released other than that it was more than two pages long. Its content
clearly did not ease detectives' fears that the sniper may strike again
at any moment in some fresh direction out beyond the Washington hub." (1,
2)
-By Francis X Clines with Christopher Drew -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
20021021
Sniper
- "Police
Want to Talk More to Sniper-Case Caller." ... ""The
person you called could not hear everything that you said; the audio was
unclear and we want to get it right," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles
Moose said at a televised news briefing, making clear he was sending a
message." ... ""Call us back so that we can clearly understand," Moose
said, speaking in Rockville, Maryland, where a task force investigating
the case is based." ... "He gave no details on who the caller might be
-- a tipster or even possibly the sniper -- or when the call was received."
-By Mark Wilkinson -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
20021019
- "Bush
Seeks to Cut Back on Raise for S.E.C.'s Corporate Cleanup."
... "Less than three months ago, President Bush signed with great fanfare
sweeping corporate antifraud legislation that called for a huge increase
in the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission to police corporate
America and clean up Wall Street." ... "Now the White House is backing
off the budget provision and urging Congress to provide the agency with
27 percent less money than the new law authorized. Administration officials
say their proposed increase is enough and that other budgetary needs, like
the military and security against terrorism, make it impossible to afford
more." ... "Harvey L. Pitt, the commission's chairman, has acknowledged
through a spokesman that the administration's level of financing will not
allow it to undertake important initiatives." (1, 2)
-By Stephen Labaton-NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- Bali
bombings
- "'Bali
Was a Wake-up Call to Indonesia': Exclusive:
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells TIME that a killer bomb blast
will prompt Jakarta to crack down on terror, and that its hesitancy is
based on concerns for democracy." ... "After a half-century of living under
various autocracies and dictatorships, the Indonesians are leery of giving
police too much power." -By Mark Thompson
-TIME.com
20021016
Sniper
- "Barbara
Starr: Military joins sniper probe." ... "The aircraft
to be used are the RC-7 and U-21 -- small fixed-wing planes packed advanced
technology, including sensors. They are all-weather planes that have the
capability of operating round the clock." ... "STARR: Under the posse comitatus
law, which dates back originally to 1878, no military involvement [is allowed]
in law enforcement. And that means they can't pursue, they can't target,
they have no powers of arrest." ... "But in recent years, what has come
to happen is the military can provide assistance, and of course, the best
example is the drug enforcement issue, drug interdiction." ...
-CNN
- "Profiler:
Sniper case publicity a balancing act." ... "One
of the lead investigators in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings
lashed out at the media Wednesday." ... "Montgomery County, Maryland, Police
Chief Charles Moose was upset that information about a tarot card left
near the scene of the most recent shooting -- and inscribed with the message,
"Dear Policeman: I am God" -- had been leaked to the media."
-CNN
"ATF Online - Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms." ... "Through its National Integrated Ballistic
Information Network (NIBIN) Program, ATF deploys Integrated Ballistic Identification
System (IBIS) equipment into State and local law enforcement agencies for
their use in imaging and comparing crime gun evidence. This equipment allows
firearms technicians to acquire digital images of the markings made by
a firearm on bullets and cartridge casings; the images then undergo automated
initial comparison. Go to the NIBIN.gov
site - Photo
Link."
"Former
N.Y. Cop Gets 5 Years in Immigrant Torture." ...
"Former police officer Charles Schwartz was sentenced to five years in
prison late on Saturday, avoiding a fourth trial on charges involving the
torture of Haitian Abner Louima in a precinct bathroom."
-Reuters via-Miami/Herald
20020819
"Police
can now be drafted to enforce immigration law:
The new federal rule takes effect Friday, raising concern among civil rights
advocates." ... "A remedy for ... [a] mass immigration emergency, passed
by Congress in 1996 but not finalized until recently, allows the US attorney
general to deputize local police to enforce immigration laws –a mingling
of enforcement powers never permitted before." -By
Kris Axtman -CSMonitor/buy
20020813
"Forum
to Show Darker View Of Economy." ... "Bush has warned
that government overspending could exacerbate the newly returned budget
deficits, hurting economic growth and raising interest rates. His decision
[to reject $5.1 billion in additional congressional spending], though,
could sour relations with Congress because the spending package includes
such sensitive items as aid to Israel and Afghanistan, funds for health
monitoring at Manhattan's Ground Zero, and $44 million for police overtime
reimbursement and other uses in the District of Columbia." -By
Mike Allen and Jonathan Weisman-WashingtonPost
20020802
"FBI
Leak Probe Irks Lawmakers: Many Spurn Polygraph
Requests On Issue of NSA's 9/11 Intercept." ... "FBI agents have questioned
nearly all 37 members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and
have asked many if they would be willing to submit to lie detector tests
as part of a broad investigation into leaks of classified information related
to the Sept. 11 attacks, according to officials involved in the inquiry."
... "Most of the lawmakers have told the FBI they would refuse a polygraph,
citing the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative
and executive branches of government and the unreliability of the exam,
those involved in the inquiry said." -By Dana Priest-WashingtonPost
200207__
- "The
Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.: Colombian
cartels have spent billions of dollars to build one of the world's most
sophisticated IT infrastructures. It's helping them smuggle more dope than
ever before." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By
Paul Kaihla -Business2.0
20020625
"US
crime rate up, ending decade of decline: Violent
crime spike renews debate over strategy: better technology or more police?"
... "For the first time in a decade, the FBI is reporting the number of
thefts, assaults, murders, and rapes is up across the United States in
all regions of the country except the Northeast. Homicides, which criminologists
consider the most reliable gauge of the nation's safety, were up 3.1 percent."
-By Alexandra Marks -CSMonitor/buy
20020529
- "Crime
falls in cannabis trial area." ... "The south London
borough which is piloting a scheme to treat cannabis offenders more leniently
has seen a dramatic drop in the level of street crimes."
-BBC /News
20020422
"Digging
for computer dirt: Collecting obsolete tape
drives used to be an eccentric hobby. But now that corporate lawsuits can
hinge on unearthing ancient digital data, stocking up on funky hardware
is good business." (1, 2,
3)
-By Steve Mollman -Salon
"DNA
voids murder confession. In the first case
of a videotaped murder confession unraveling in Cook County, a man who
was recorded saying he stabbed his mother was freed on Friday after DNA
tests linked another man to the crime." -By Kirsten
Scharnberg and Steve Mills
-ChicagoTribune