WASHINGTON, D.C. - A report released Thursday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is no longer permitted to conduct random searches of travelers at American airports, and rail and ground transit hubs. The DOJ report found that there are “serious concerns” within the Department regarding the practice’s legality.
In a press release obtained by The Hill, Horowitz’s office said the “DEA was not complying with its policy on consensual encounters conducted at mass transportation facilities. This resulted in DEA and DEA Task Force Group personnel creating potentially significant operational and legal risks.” The risks stem from the suspension of required training programs and the widespread failure of agents to complete required paperwork for “consensual encounters.”
The agents conducting the searches reportedly failed to document the searches properly in compliance with the DEA’s policies and may have unlawfully targeted minority travelers.
The report observes, “Even for instances in which DEA-177 forms were completed, we learned of other issues. For example, although the DEA Agents Manual requires submission of the DEA-177 form on the day of the encounter, we were told of DEA-177 forms that had only recently been submitted (after the OIG’s evaluation had been announced) for consensual encounters that were conducted months prior. There were also numerous examples in which DEA-177 form data was incomplete, which risks limiting the DEA’s ability to rely on such data to assess its activities.”
According to Fox News, in at least one instance paid an airline employee “tens of thousands of dollars” over a period of years to suggest targets.
Senior Attorney Dan Alban with the Institute for Justice told the outlet, "[The] OIG report confirms what we’ve been saying for years about predatory DEA practices at airports."
"We welcome DOJ’s suspension of this program as a first step, but policy directives can be changed at any time, under this or future administrations," Alban added.
In the text of the report, Horowitz wrote, "The DEA’s failure to collect data for each consensual encounter, as required by its own policy, and its continued inability to provide us with any assessment of the success of these interdiction efforts once again raise questions about whether these transportation interdiction activities are an effective use of law enforcement resources—and leaves the DEA once again unable to provide adequate answers to those questions."
The office of the inspector general provided a sequence of recommendations that are designed to help DEA mitigate the issues the report revealed.
The Justice Department responded to the report by issuing a memo suspending "all consensual encounters at mass transportation facilities unless they are either connected to an existing investigation or approved by the DEA Administrator based on exigent circumstances," per Fox News.
In a press release obtained by The Hill, Horowitz’s office said the “DEA was not complying with its policy on consensual encounters conducted at mass transportation facilities. This resulted in DEA and DEA Task Force Group personnel creating potentially significant operational and legal risks.” The risks stem from the suspension of required training programs and the widespread failure of agents to complete required paperwork for “consensual encounters.”
The agents conducting the searches reportedly failed to document the searches properly in compliance with the DEA’s policies and may have unlawfully targeted minority travelers.
The report observes, “Even for instances in which DEA-177 forms were completed, we learned of other issues. For example, although the DEA Agents Manual requires submission of the DEA-177 form on the day of the encounter, we were told of DEA-177 forms that had only recently been submitted (after the OIG’s evaluation had been announced) for consensual encounters that were conducted months prior. There were also numerous examples in which DEA-177 form data was incomplete, which risks limiting the DEA’s ability to rely on such data to assess its activities.”
According to Fox News, in at least one instance paid an airline employee “tens of thousands of dollars” over a period of years to suggest targets.
Senior Attorney Dan Alban with the Institute for Justice told the outlet, "[The] OIG report confirms what we’ve been saying for years about predatory DEA practices at airports."
"We welcome DOJ’s suspension of this program as a first step, but policy directives can be changed at any time, under this or future administrations," Alban added.
In the text of the report, Horowitz wrote, "The DEA’s failure to collect data for each consensual encounter, as required by its own policy, and its continued inability to provide us with any assessment of the success of these interdiction efforts once again raise questions about whether these transportation interdiction activities are an effective use of law enforcement resources—and leaves the DEA once again unable to provide adequate answers to those questions."
The office of the inspector general provided a sequence of recommendations that are designed to help DEA mitigate the issues the report revealed.
The Justice Department responded to the report by issuing a memo suspending "all consensual encounters at mass transportation facilities unless they are either connected to an existing investigation or approved by the DEA Administrator based on exigent circumstances," per Fox News.
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Comments
2024-11-23T21:59-0500 | Comment by: Raconteur
The DEA must have been intercepting too many cartel mules and the CIA & DNC were losing too much money