Justice Department eyes domestic spy role for local police [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/08/terrorism-spyin.html
Bush administration proposes new role for local police in helping FBI The proposed rule change was first set out for public comment on July 31, and drew little attention: As law enforcement agencies, including local and state units, watch for signs of terrorist activity, they could target groups as well as individuals, and begin criminal intelligence investigations "based on the suspicion that a target is engaged in terrorism or providing material support to terrorists." And they could spread around the law enforcement world the fruits of the investigation. In short, it would move local police forces into the realm of intelligence-gathering that had been the work of the FBI and other federal agencies. The proposed shift was noticed by the Washington Post, which reported Saturday that the Justice Department's proposal "would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years." The newspaper noted that the administration was in the process of revising domestic intelligence-gathering in its waning months in office, and would lock in policies for President Bush's successor, completing the greatest expansion of executive branch authority since the Watergate era. Jim McMahon, deputy executive director of the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, was quoted by the Post as saying the changes would "catch up with reality," updating rules from the early 1990s to the post-9/11 world. He said police agencies would still have to demonstrate a "reasonable suspicion" that a target was involved in a crime before collecting intelligence, the paper said. But, it noted, Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union and a 16-year veteran of the FBI, said police agencies could misunderstand it as allowing them to collect intelligence "even when no underlying crime is suspected." He cited as an example an investigation into a charitable donation to a group later designated as a terrorist organization. It risks turning police officers into "spies on behalf of the federal government," he said. -- James Gerstenzang
