From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sat Jun 02 2001 - 01:32:12 MDT
FW:The Federal Bureau of Incompetence
The American people justifiably feel sickened by the FBI's mishandling of
evidence in the Timothy McVeigh case, but they shouldn't be surprised,
according to economist Bruce Benson, senior fellow at The Independent
Institute.
"The FBI's failure to divulge reams of evidence to McVeigh's lawyers is just
the latest bungle in a history stretching back to when President Theodore
Roosevelt created its predecessor, the Bureau of Investigation," writes
Benson in a new op-ed.
"Regrettably, blunders and cover-ups are not confined to the FBI. Despite
cover-up attempts, similar scandals involving both state and local
prosecutors and police show that misrepresentation and even falsification of
forensic evidence occurs regularly."
At the root of the systemic problems that plague public law-enforcement,
Benson argues, is poor accountability. Yet strong accountability (and its
offshoot, innovation) is the norm in the private sector. This, according to
Benson, explains why governments are increasingly contracting with the
private sector for police dispatch, investigative services, fingerprinting,
crime labs, traffic control, data processing, prisoner transport and other
traditional police functions. Between 1964 and 1997, in fact, the number of
specialized security firms grew by more than 800 percent, while employment
by these firms grew by almost 925 percent. This trend is explained by the
simple fact that in police services, as in other services, customers tend to
get what they pay for. For example:
* In 1992, the 2,565 private railroad police employed by major railroads had
a clearance rate (reported crimes cleared by arrest) 2.86 times greater than
the clearance rate for public police.
* In the 1970s, a private investigation firm was contracted to look into
police corruption in small towns in Ohio and West Virginia. Within months,
the firm's efforts led to more than 150 arrests.
* After a drug scandal in 1993, the town of Sussex, New Jersey, replaced its
tiny four-officer police force with private policing firm. Contracting out
for policing is a common practice in Switzerland and the Bahamas.
"Calls on Congress to once again investigate the FBI miss the mark,"
concludes Benson. "Changing the political and bureaucratic delivery of
policing services requires fundamental reform, and the growth of the private
security industry strongly suggests how those reforms ought to take shape."
See Bruce Benson's op-ed, "The Countervailing Trend to FBI Failures: A
Return to Privatized Police Services," at
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink3-21-1.html
Also see:
"Poll: 4 out of 10 Americans don't trust FBI" (USA Today, 5/24/01)
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink3-21-2.html
TO SERVE AND PROTECT: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice, by
Bruce Benson (The Independent Institute/New York University Press, 1998)
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink3-21-3.html
The Independent Institute's archive on crime policy:
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink3-21-4.html
Copyright © 2001 The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
(510) 632-1366 phone
(510) 568-6040 fax
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