But the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun landing on the streets of Milwaukee and the agency having $35,000 in merchandise stolen from its store, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found.But remember: only law enforcement personnel can be trusted with guns.
When the 10-month operation was shut down after the burglary, agents and Milwaukee police officers who participated in the sting cleared out the store but left behind a sensitive document that listed names, vehicles and phone numbers of undercover agents.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Nice work
The ATF screws up in Milwaukee.
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ReplyDelete*Armed and Dangerous*
ReplyDeleteWhy do those old silent movies involving the "Keystone Cops" keep reverberating through my head?
Reminds me of the story of a reported bank robbery where the cops came in and wanted the usual details about the suspect's appearance and flight. The teller simply pointed to another counter where the bankrobber was still in the bank counting his money.
(old Bill Dana comedy routine)
"My name, Janet Napolitano."
There will be an internal investigation. In 9 months time a report will be quietly released exonerating all involved saying department procedures were followed. The end.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope this is the exception, not the rule. Maybe they just had a bad...umm...10 months.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThat's like the old joke about the Cubs:Anyboy can have a bad century.
for those too busy to click here are some of the low lights :
ReplyDeleteSalkin said … the ATF owes him about $15,000, which includes a month of lost rent. The ATF has balked, saying there was less than $3,200 in damage and telling Salkin to return the security deposit. They told him to file a claim with the federal government and warned him to stop contacting them. In an email to Salkin, ATF attorney Patricia Cangemi wrote, "If you continue to contact the Agents after being so advised your contacts may be construed as harassment under the law. Threats or harassment of a Federal Agent is of grave concern…"
Ask someone to pay their bill and the response is basically a threat to toss him in jail by people who actually have the power to toss him in jail.
the agency's operation was paying such high prices that some defendants bought guns from stores such as Gander Mountain and sold them to the agents for a quick profit.
"Getting guns off the streets" or in this case getting guns out of a chain store, then on the streets and then back off the streets after paying an above market price.
Agency officials touted a drop in firearm-related homicides in pilot cities and credited the $35 million effort with helping local police departments solve other crimes. But a U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General's report two years later found no evidence that the teams reduced firearm crimes in the targeted areas.
so $35 million to accomplish nothing? For the ATF, I would accomplish nothing for $32 million!
But during the roundup, ATF arrested and sought charges against three defendants who proved to be the wrong people, even though they had video of the defendants.
One of those was Adrienne Jones. ATF agents said Jones sold them six grams of marijuana on March 7. Problem was, Jones reported to a federal prison in Pennsylvania to start a sentence on March 1, according to Chris Burke, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons - on an ATF case.
some jobs really are detail oriented. Think anyone involved in this series of fiascos lost their jobs or took a pay cut?
BTW, off topic, but I heard some good news today.
ReplyDeleteThis wonderful state of Illinois is now down to only one former guv in prison.
They may just be making room.
Notify the Sub-Director for Mixers, Matches and Bullets...
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me what a "non-military-looking" machine gun looks like? Deb and I need something for the porch but the best I can come up with is this...
ReplyDeletehttps://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRfrba1hVwR39_y-LfS3cvDSwfPbGi3WElE0oBE9RuXG6Iu3AyJ