When does the FBI Investigate...

[Group9]

I think the biggest shift is not what function they perform, but what priority it has. Many SAs have been taken out of violent crime and other units to help out with Counter-intel and Counter-terrorism investigations. If you look at the new Top 10 priorities of the FBI, CI and CT are #'s 1 and 2 on the list. So it's not really a change in that the FBI is doing things it hasn't done previously, but rather is placing more importance on them than ever before.

That seems to be the story with the office here as well. They don't really want to work CI-CT, but they don't seem to want ICE or DHS to do it, either, until they make up their mind.

Their latest ploy that is bugging us, is an attempt to raid the OCDETF account by promoting the supposition that OCDETF money can be used for CI-CT cases, even if they are not drug related. Just another attempt to try and keep their finger in every pie until they decide which one they want to eat.

[eff-bee-eye]

I've worked with a few young agents who were pretty good guys when I worked one particular drug task force. I didn't have a problem with them per se, but the policies of the agency and the SAC's and ASAC's.

I just got sick of constantly being blatantly lied to by agents and the general arrogance of the office here. That's not to say that there aren't any nice people with the agency, they just don't seem to be the ones that routinely deal with locals.

We had one deal where we stopped a car taking drug money back to Mexico. The snitch said there was $85K in the car. We found a bunch of money hidden in a compartment. The ASAC put all the money in a garbage bag and told another local officer and I to take it back and count it. I said no way in hell was I taking that money anywhere before it was counted. The ASAC got pissed off and we had our own personal screaming match on the side of the freeway. He gave it to a couple of his agents and they took it back. It was counted in the office and there was only $65K there. Of course the snitch exaggerated the amount, but who do you think would have been blamed if WE'D been the ones transporting it? It was always one thing after another with them. Even the young agents were shaking their heads at the car scene at the way the ASAC was acting. Naturally, he's risen right up the ranks.

I dunno if the ASAC accused the agents of stealing $20 or not, I didn't ask. But I know we would have been. All locals are corrupt ya know.

Yeah, that situation does suck....also sounds like an episode of "The Shield". Unfortunately, once you move into management as an SA in the FBI, your whole job becomes nothing more than bureaucracy and politics. That is why you see so many career journeyman 13's who choose to stay field agents. And HQ needs managers so bad, they are offering a $75K bonus over 18 months for agents to step up.

[FSCF3801]

So the less letters the better..... Gosh darn






CBP RULES!!!!



:D

[retdetsgt]

Yeah, that situation does suck....also sounds like an episode of "The Shield". Unfortunately, once you move into management as an SA in the FBI, your whole job becomes nothing more than bureaucracy and politics. That is why you see so many career journeyman 13's who choose to stay field agents. And HQ needs managers so bad, they are offering a $75K bonus over 18 months for agents to step up.

Personally, I think a lot of that is the legacy of Hoover. He self promoted via the agency for so many decades that he created this monster that refuses to look at it's own inadequacies. To say there was a problem in the FBI was to make a personal attack against him. The mood in management is still cover and deny.

One fairly recent example was the information that the agency failed to give to Timothy McVeigh's defense until after he was fried. Yeah, McVeigh was guilty as hell and the stuff didn't make any difference in the long run, but that was pretty bush league. If the agency is going represent itself as the primo LE in the country, they need to do a lot better than that. I couldn't imagine my agency "forgetting" to give the defense what they were legally entitled to.

We joke about press conferences, but on that same drug task force, I was watching a press conference given by the SAC here and it was 90% fiction. He took some truth and spun it to make the the agency sound like heroes when it fact, it was a huge misjudgement. All LE agencies make them, but the fact they refuse to acknowledge and better yet, spin it, is why locals have so much distrust for them.

When I was working, we had a couple of detectives assigned to do nothing but bank robberies. And they were good cops and hard workers. Now if uniform made a quick arrest of a bank robber, our agency got credit because the news was out before the FBI could hold a press conference. But any time our detectives made an arrest after the event through investigation, they threw the guy in jail and notified the FBI. Within an hour, you would hear the news that the FBI had the robber in custody. True story, everytime.

And anyone would have to admit that up until the last couple of decades, a lot of local agencies were corrupt and probably not terribly trustworthy. But those days are gone. Our background checks and standards are right up there and have been for some time. But the agency still looks at us like it was the 30's when it comes to sharing information.

I suppose SA's do write reports, but I've never seen one, really. I've been promised 10 or 12 over the years on cases we've worked together, but never once was one produced. Each time, it was sorta important to my investigation when the case was later prosecuted by the state rather than the feds. I have no idea why it was so important to withhold it, but they did. :confused:

The last case I worked with a SA, I treated him like a ridealong. I knew it wasn't going fed prosecution and he was there because his boss told him to since it looked like a civil rights case. I did all the interviews, wrote all the reports and pretended he wasn't involved. That was the only time I didn't have reason to get too pissed. Although he did send all the evidence back to D.C. to get processed for fingerprints and it took two weeks to get it back. I could have had it done in ten minutes..... But surprisingly enough, I did eventually get the evidence back. I was justifiably worried about that catch.

But again, it think it's Hoover's legacy that still haunts the halls of management there. I wonder what ever happened to that woman SAC that blew the whistle on the agency's failure to follow up the flight training of the 9-11 highjackers? I wouldn't want to be her, but I admire the hell out of her. Not because she made the agency look stupid, but hopefully, it will implement some change in attitude. Who am I kidding? :D

[Swat1]

I dunno if the ASAC accused the agents of stealing $20 or not, I didn't ask. But I know we would have been. All locals are corrupt ya know.

Was'nt Matthews was it? If so, PM me.

Swat1*

[retdetsgt]

Sent you one.