Director Mueller Stresses Partnerships at 2005 IACP Conference
Securing the Future
Together is the Only Option
09/26/05
On Monday, in his annual speech at the national conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Director Mueller posed a series of urgent questions to the several thousand police chiefs, sheriffs, and law enforcement executives gathered in Miami.
“As the world grows more interconnected and more dangerous, how do we respond effectively? How do we combat criminals and terrorists who are operating without borders or boundaries? How do we anticipate and stay ahead of changing threats?,” he asked. In other words, how do we do our jobs?
The answer, the Director said, comes down to one word: partnerships.
Why? The purely “local” crime handled by a single agency within a single jurisdiction is fast disappearing. In today’s world, high tech hackers can strike from anywhere on the planet without warning...global terrorists can plan an attack in one country, finance it in another, and unleash it in a third...organized crime rings can ship and sell stolen and counterfeit goods across continents. Even violent street gangs have national and international connections.
Which is why, instead of updating the law enforcement executives on what the FBI is doing to help them—through initiatives like LEO, IAFIS, and CODIS—the Director focused on how they and their agencies are helping the FBI.
Just two examples the Director cited in his speech:
-
Earlier this year, officers from the Torrance Police Department arrested two suspects for bank robbery. After searching their apartments, the officers “discovered evidence suggesting the suspects were planning a terrorist attack. They passed it on to the JTTF. The JTTF then worked side-by-side with federal, state, and local police at a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week command center. Together, they mounted an enormous investigation that directly led to the dismantling of a terror cell and the saving of countless lives.”
-
In February, a reputed leader of the MS-13 street gang named Eber Anibal Rivera Paz, who had escaped from a prison in Honduras, was arrested by authorities in Texas. “By this time, Border Patrol agents had alerted officials in Texas that Rivera Paz might be heading north. An alert Lieutenant at the East Hidalgo Detention Center, where Rivera Paz was being held, suspected he might be part of MS 13 and notified the FBI and Border Patrol. They identified him as the fugitive gang leader.”
And where do law enforcement partnerships stand today? They are stronger than ever, the Director says. “The threats continue to change, but we have made tangible progress—every day that we work together, we make our world safer.”
Resources: International Association of Chiefs of Police website