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July 29 - August 1, 2020
The one thing I know for sure is: “With a gun, you can steal hundreds. With a pen, you can steal millions.”
White collar crime is where the big money is. Yet in US society, violent crimes are punished far more harshly than white collar crimes. Yet a white collar fraud such as a Ponzi scheme can ruin hundreds or thousands of lives vs. a violent crime that many only ruin one life or one family. Neither is acceptable of course, but I think it's anothe example of white privilege and systemic racism.
the Bureau was authorized to investigate violent crimes against interstate travelers in 1994 and serial killings specifically in 1998. The FBI may investigate only when requested to do so by an appropriate law enforcement agency.
I was surprised to learn this. I thought the FBI was involved in interstate crimes and serial killings far earlier than the 1990s.
The Bureau doesn’t “take over” cases from local agencies. The FBI has no hierarchical authority over local and state agencies. State and local law enforcement agencies are not subordinate to the FBI.
One of the relationships ignorant authors write about in their police/crime/thriller books that feature interactions between the FBI and local LEOs. I hope I'll remember the proper relationship when I write my thrillers.
In the real world, all agents wear attire appropriate for the specific work environment. Women do not have to look or act like the guys, but if there’s an arrest or a search, they’ll be sporting the blue nylon raid jacket with the gold FBI letters, khakis pants, sneakers, and the baseball cap too. And when it’s time to go to the office or testify in court, the female agents will be wearing an appropriate business suit or dress topped with a jacket to conceal their guns.
Although the qualifying age to join the FBI is twenty-three, the average new agent is thirty years old and has worked a managerial-level position for several years before receiving an appointment to the FBI Academy.
A surprising fact. I assumed most FBI agents "moved up "from either local law enforcement or the military.
The mandatory retirement age for federal law enforcement officers is fifty-seven, though an agent can receive a limited extension up to the age of sixty if his or her continued service is in the public’s interest.
In addition to the age and educational requirements, candidates must be a U.S. citizen, be able to obtain a top secret SCI (sensitive compartmented information) clearance, and comply with the FBI drug policy.
(That’s not to say that there aren’t any hot shot agents in the FBI who believe they are saviors of the universe; in the FBI, we call them “blue flamers,” usually young agents so eager and energetic that, similar to rocket at launch, they have fire shooting from their backsides.)
LOL. Yet seemingly every book I read starring an FBI agent features a blue flamer.
Agents are evaluated on the number and quality of their key sources, also referred to as symbolled sources, informants, cooperating witnesses, and assets. The ability to communicate with people who are able to provide direct knowledge of criminal activity is one of the most important roles of an investigator.
I never knew that most of a field agent's work is cultivating street contacts and informants, etc.
Every agent was required and expected to develop informants. I take it that’s still the case. JT: Yes, that hasn’t changed. It’s really the bread and butter of our jobs. Any case that is a success has informants as a component to it.
Ibid.
You see on TV that a guy’s a snitch, that’s what they call him. They portray him as a sniveling drug addict, and he’ll walk up and dime somebody out for five bucks. [The public] is watching this and saying, “This guy is nothing but a rat. He’s a rat.” That is not the way to talk about an informant. That’s not a way to treat an informant. That’s not my experience. If you want somebody to help you, somebody who is on the inside because we’re all on the outside, you’ve got to be genuine with him. You’ve got to protect him to [encourage] him to want to do it.
Certainly not as titillating as TV and film want us to believe, but certainly seems more common sense and effective.
When you work undercover operations within the FBI, you have a very strict series of guidelines you have to follow—legal, procedural, and policy-wise. You just don’t walk into a room and do whatever you want. There is a very clear, objective practice that we go through, so when we do present the case in court, the evidence will withstand defense scrutiny. So we’re very careful how we setup and execute undercover operations. There’s a tremendous amount of oversight. There’s a tremendous amount of preparation. So to have FBI undercover operations viewed as just some crazy guy going off the
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Another educational tidbit I wouldn't have supposed.
Let me step back for a moment and provide a basic understanding of the difference between working espionage as an FBI agent and as a CIA officer. That sometimes gets confusing for people. The main thing to understand is that the CIA’s mission is to gather and analyze foreign intelligence, to collect information on the status of another country’s economy and defense. It is the FBI’s mission to prevent foreign governments from gathering and analyzing America’s intelligence, especially when this activity impacts our safety. This is known as counter-intelligence work.
An important distinction!
The CIA are our spies overseas. It’s the FBI who hunts the spies in this country.”
Although firefights with bad guys do occur, most FBI agents have never fired their weapons in an adversarial situation.
Not something I'd expect.
Most agents are now using a Glock 19, which is a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol as their primary weapon. They also train with and are authorized to carry M16 rifles.
Attention, authors!
Whether someone is a fugitive is determined by local enforcement. This person has committed a violent crime somewhere and then has fled the jurisdiction. The FBI gets involved in these things when a UFAP warrant is issued under Title 18 United States Code Section 1023. What it allows the FBI to do, is to work with local partners and take that felony warrant for a guy wanted for murder once we have some indication that person has fled. As soon as he crosses that state line, he is considered an unlawful flight candidate. We take the local warrant, go to the magistrate and, with the approval of
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This is important for my BOOK THREE.
There are also federal laws enacted to charge murders that occur to promote a criminal enterprise, such as organized crime and drug trafficking as federal crimes.
Also important for my BOOK THREE.
The FBI selects future employees through stringent hiring standards. The rigorous recruiting, background, and selection process for special agents helps the FBI weed out potential problems, or at least keep them to a minimum. The FBI’s internal affairs department is called the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). When I was an active employee, OPR would issue a quarterly report of bad behavior and the punishment dealt out to the employee as a warning to all.
Bottom line, based on this book written by former FBI Agent Jerri Williams, I feel the FBI is one government agency that insists on high-quality employees, and actually HAS high-quality employees..
