Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI has been quietly waging a turf battle with other federal law enforcement agencies for taking over violent crimes, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to an internal memo, FBI managers are growing more frustrated with the ATF and Homeland Security for taking over cases that the bureau believes it should handle.
“The jurisdiction encroachment by the ATF continues as a disturbing concern,” the memo distributed last month said, adding that “mission creep by HSI is an issue in an alarming number of field offices.”
Thirty of the FBI’s 56 field offices reported problems with the ATF while handling cases such as human trafficking, drugs and gangs.
FBI Director James Comey doesn’t have the same frustrations, a bureau spokesman said.
“Because some FBI authorities overlap with those of other federal agencies, challenges and conflicts inevitably arise,” Michael Kortan said. “But we have always tried to resolve those conflicts in a professional and collaborative manner, throughout the field and at headquarters, and that will continue.”
