August 10, 2002 - Washington Post: Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2002: 08 August 2002 Peace Corps Headlines: August 10, 2002 - Washington Post: Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program

By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, August 10, 2002 - 10:58 am: Edit Post

Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program





Read and comment on this story from the Washington Post that says that the contraversial USA Freedom Corps' TIPS Program is being scaled back even before it starts and that the government no longer plans to ask thousands of mail carriers, utility workers and others with access to private homes to report suspected terrorist activity.

Under revised Justice Department plans announced yesterday, the program would involve only truckers, dock workers, bus drivers and others who are in positions to monitor places and events that are obviously public, officials said. Officials also stressed that the initiative would be voluntary.

PCOL applauds the government's decision to cut back on TIPS and protect Americans' civil liberties, but continues to believe that it is not a good idea to have even a voluntary spy program like TIPS under the same USA Freedom Corps umbrella as the Peace Corps.

Read the story at:


Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Under Fire, Justice Shrinks TIPS Program

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, August 10, 2002; Page A01

Justice Department officials have decided to scale back the controversial Operation TIPS program before it even begins, saying yesterday that they no longer plan to ask thousands of mail carriers, utility workers and others with access to private homes to report suspected terrorist activity.

The decision comes as the latest setback in the federal government's halting efforts to enlist citizens as the eyes and ears of the war on terrorism. Many of the initiatives have produced mixed results or are barely off the ground nearly a year after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

TIPS, or the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, was billed as a way for various workers -- including mail carriers, utility employees and truckers -- to alert authorities to suspicious behavior they encountered on the job.

But the idea has come under fire from civil liberties groups and lawmakers as a citizen spy network, and it was targeted for elimination in the bill approved by the House last month to create a Department of Homeland Security.

Under revised Justice Department plans announced yesterday, the program would involve only truckers, dock workers, bus drivers and others who are in positions to monitor places and events that are obviously public, officials said. Officials also stressed that the initiative would be voluntary.

"People have very legitimate concerns about the privacy and sanctity of the home," said Deborah Daniels, assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs. "Because of those concerns, the program will not include workers who have access to private property."

TIPS is just one of several federal citizen initiatives that have run into difficulties since Sept. 11, according to officials and advocates involved with the efforts.

Many law enforcement officials complain that nearly a year after the terrorist attacks, most people remain confused about which government agency to call with suspicions of terror-related activity. Various state and federal law enforcement agencies maintain a patchwork of hotlines and citizen alert programs, while the FBI dismantled its own Sept. 11 terrorist tip line last fall.

In addition, President Bush's initiative to double the number of Neighborhood Watch organizations, announced in March, has gotten off to a slow start. Many officials say they have been disappointed in the relative lack of interest among the public for such programs.

"Initially after 9/11, everyone was hot to trot and ready to go," said North Miami, Fla., Police Chief William Berger, who serves as president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"But on the national level, I just haven't seen what I thought would take place: hundreds of thousands of people lining up to pitch in," Berger said. "A lot of people are saying, 'I guess the government doesn't need me.' "

Not all the efforts are foundering, and experts said programs with strong grass-roots components have been particularly successful. Jim Copple, a spokesman for the National Crime Prevention Council, said law enforcement officials have rethought many of the plans other than the TIPS program that called for centralizing information in the nation's capital.

One Justice Department initiative launched in May, the Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), has already tripled the number of programs that give local residents the opportunity to help police departments by answering phones or performing other civilian tasks, Daniels said. The need for such aid has soared since Sept. 11 as local authorities focus on preventing terrorism and cope with declining budgets, law enforcement officials said.

"The initial instincts were to have these centralized lines that all came to Washington and the FBI," Copple said. "What's happening now is an adjustment. Wherever something takes place, whether it's Seattle or San Diego or Houston, there is going to be a local response first, so there has to be local involvement."

Thomas N. Faust, executive director of the National Sheriffs' Association, which oversees the National Neighborhood Watch program, estimated that about 2,100 new watch groups have been formed nationwide since March, when the Bush administration announced a goal of doubling the total from 7,500 to 15,000.

Faust said the campaign is "off to a pretty good start" but conceded that organizers will face serious challenges in reaching the two-year goal.

"It's a natural tendency to have a spike at first, when people's interests are piqued," Faust said. "The challenge is to keep the level of interest up so we can continue to expand."

The TIPS program, first mentioned by Bush in his State of the Union speech, was intended to be launched this month but was sidetracked in July after the American Civil Liberties Union called attention to the little-noticed initiative and said it would encourage "government-sanctioned peeping Toms."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) compared the initiative to domestic spying efforts in World War I and to a widely criticized ghetto informant program under the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The U.S. Postal Service, which had been mentioned as a possible participant, quickly announced that its employees would not be involved.

In the House, Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) inserted language in the homeland security reorganization bill that would effectively kill the effort, leaving the issue in limbo until the House and Senate hammer out a final measure.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft defended the program in testimony on Capitol Hill last month, noting that telephone technicians or others with access to private homes are already free to pass on suspicions to the FBI or local police.

But Ashcroft also promised lawmakers that Operation TIPS would not maintain a centralized database of the reports it received and would serve only as a "clearinghouse" for other agencies.

Justice Department officials, who complain that the TIPS program has been the victim of misunderstandings and distortions, said yesterday that they hope that removing the most controversial aspects of the program will allay the fears of lawmakers and civil liberties groups.

"This was never a program intended or designed to infringe on privacy concerns," said one official.

But Laura W. Murphy, head of the ACLU's Washington office, said the revisions fail to provide enough safeguards against abuse. "They have cut out a major area of concern, but they haven't solved all the problems," Murphy said. "The government is still enlisting private industry in a way that could encourage vigilantism."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company



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