Encounters underreported

Monday, June 9, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

After the 2001 terrorist attacks, FBI officials requested that state and local law enforcement officers notify federal authorities when they come in contact with suspected terrorists.

But a senior FBI official told USA Today last week that law enforcement officers don’t always make such notifications and, in fact, probably don’t report such encounters eight to 10 times a day, nationally.

It’s supposed to work like this: When police stop a person for a traffic infraction or another reason they plug the person’s name into a central computer system to retrieve information, such as any outstanding warrants for that person’s arrest.

If the person’s name matches one on the federal terrorist watch list, the officer receives an alert that a preliminary match has been made. The officer is then supposed to notify the FBI so that officials there can determine whether the person is a terrorism suspect, has been misidentified or is on the list by mistake.

On average each day, police across the country encounter and verify the identities of 40 to 50 people whose names appear on the screening center’s list — only a few of whom are typically arrested, said Leonard Boyle, the FBI screening center’s director.

But audits of law enforcement agencies have shown that officers often ignore the FBI’s request to make the notification, Boyle said. Some officers have said they were unfamiliar with the system or did not understand how it works. Others simply say that, because of their workloads, they don’t have time to notify the FBI screening center.

These officers should make the time.

Granted, our nation’s police officers had their work cut out for them before the 9/11 attacks, and the FBI’s request is an added burden for many local law enforcers. Still, state and local police are the nation’s first line of defense for determining where terrorist suspects are located and what they may be doing. Police should make a better effort to notify federal officials as asked.