By Ed Somers
February 3, 2003

The Criminal and Social Justice Committee of the Conference of Mayors met on January 23 under the leadership of Elizabeth (NJ) Mayor J. Christian Bollwage.

The Committee began by hearing from Tim Quinn, Chief of Staff for the COPS Office who discussed the continuing role of COPS in fighting crime, and resources available in the homeland war against terrorism. Mr. Quinn said that while the FY 2003 budget for COPS was not yet final due to the continued budget debate in Congress, the office is working on important issues such as racial profiling and police integrity, and hopes to have its final appropriations information soon.

The Committee was then joined by former Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, the new Region IX Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Griffin discussed the role of FEMA within the new Department of Homeland Security, and need for increased attention on disaster mitigation and preparedness. During this discussion the need for direct homeland security funding was again emphasized by the mayors, such as Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune who discussed serious concern regarding plans by his state legislature to allocate the funding outside of cities.

The Committee was also joined by Treasury Department Assistant Secretary for Enforcement Kenneth Lawson and Patricia Galupo, the Director of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Special Agent Galupo discussed how the federal government is working with state and local law enforcement to enter into the national database crime-related ballistics information, so that matches or "hits" can be identified. She said that over 500,000 images of bullets and casings have been entered so far, and that there have been over 5,000 hits.

The importance of this technology was highlighted during the recent sniper attacks in the Washington, DC metro area. Galupo urged the mayors to work with their police chiefs to ensure that as much data as possible is entered into the network so as to increase the likelihood of a match.

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry expressed his strong support for the NIBIN program, and urged that ATF publicize its existence to help discourage potential criminals from committing gun- related crimes.

The final speaker was Assistant FBI Director Louis Quijas who is in charge of the new Office of Law Enforcement Coordination. Assistant Director Quijas, a former police chief, stressed the FBI's commitment to improving law enforcement coordination through the use of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces, and other mechanisms.

Mr. Quijas also addressed the issue of security clearances, stating that "if someone from the FBI tells you they have access to important information, but cannot share it, then call me." He said that the majority of information that police chiefs would need is already classified "law enforcement sensitive" not "top secret" and so is available to local law enforcement. Mr. Quijas said the difference is that "top secret" information contains "methods and source," whereas most local law enforcement simply need to know what the information is and that it is accurate.

He also added that of the 1,200 requests for top secret clearance, some 970 had already been cleared.