P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/643466.html
Jul 20, 2007
Still another state agency poised to pack heat
If you imagine a gun-toting state employee, a trooper, SBI agent or alcohol
law-enforcement officer might come to mind.
But the State Highway Patrol's 1,515 sworn troopers, the State Bureau of
Investigation's 347 sworn agents, and ALE's 132 sworn officers are just the
beginning of armed law enforcement in North Carolina.
More than 60 state agencies employ about 3,600 sworn law officers, all of
whom can carry guns, according to the state Department of Justice.
Another may be about to join the list. The Industrial Commission, which
decides worker's compensation claims, could have sworn law officers under a
bill that passed the Senate this week.
The commission already has four investigators, each with formal
law-enforcement training, said the commission's chairman, Buck Lattimore.
The agency wants to give them the full authority of sworn officers,
including arrest powers and the ability to carry guns, as they investigate
about 100 cases a year.
Lattimore said some cases involve drug dealers and "fly-by-night" criminals.
"It's just some rough, tough characters," he said. "We've had some
protection issues over the years. All we can do now is make citizens
arrests."
More important than being armed, agency representatives say, is that they
have full powers of arrest. That means that if a revenuer or an insurance
investigator needs to put a crook in jail or search a drug house, he doesn't
have to tie up a local cop or deputy -- or fear as much for his life.
"We want to make sure that our officers are safe," said Shane Guyant,
assistant director of the Department of Insurance's Investigations Division.
"And we have to have the ability to go into each of the 100 counties and
make arrests. It relieves local police and sheriff's deputies of the burden
of having to make these cases."
The state's 21 insurance investigators probe embezzlements, medical billing
fraud, staged car accidents, and bail-bonding crimes. They file charges,
make about 100 felony arrests a year, and help prosecute in state and
federal court.
Fake car crashes
And then, Guyant said, there was the Jordanian man who was wanted recently
for faking car crashes so he could collect money to send to Hamas, an
extremist Palestinian political party.
"We don't just deal with lawyers and doctors," said Guyant, who carries his
office's standard-issue .40-caliber Heckler & Koch pistol. "We deal with
everybody, from chiropractors to thugs on the street. Even terrorists."
To be sure, that's unusual. But officials at several state agencies said
they couldn't do their jobs as well without sworn law officers.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's office, for example, employs nine law
officers. Four of them investigate securities fraud, two look into trademark
violations, two probe notary fraud, and one -- a retired Raleigh police
officer -- enforces lobbying laws.
Grave issues
"Given the gravity of the issues we deal with in the lobbying division, we
feel it's important to have a sworn law-enforcement officer with a high
level of experience," said Liz Proctor, a spokeswoman for the agency. "Our
officers deal with specialized areas of the law. It's helpful to have
officers who can make arrests."
So far, it seems, no lobbyist has required shooting.
It appears that the Industrial Commission is likely to join the the ranks of
the armed.
The bill cleared the Senate, and the House is poised to approve it with
minor changes after it gets a report on the bill's fiscal impact. Lattimore
said that would come to about $10,000 a year more, mostly for increased
pension pay.
There's no opposition as far as he knows, Lattimore said.
"This is not something out of the ordinary," he said. "It's for the
protection of our folks, as well as expediting our process while freeing up
local law-enforcement."
SIDEBAR:
LAW OFFICERS ABOUND
Besides obvious law-enforcement outfits such as the State Capitol Police,
dozens of other agencies employ sworn law officers, according to state
records.
Some are state universities and community colleges with their own police
forces. Others are local alcohol sales and enforcement agencies.
Here are some others of note:
Dorothea Dix Hospital
Department of Insurance
Department of Revenue
Forest Resources Division
Wildlife Resources Commission
Marine Patrol
State Parks
State Ports
General Assembly
Supreme Court
N.C. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Jul 20, 2007
Still another state agency poised to pack heat
If you imagine a gun-toting state employee, a trooper, SBI agent or alcohol
law-enforcement officer might come to mind.
But the State Highway Patrol's 1,515 sworn troopers, the State Bureau of
Investigation's 347 sworn agents, and ALE's 132 sworn officers are just the
beginning of armed law enforcement in North Carolina.
More than 60 state agencies employ about 3,600 sworn law officers, all of
whom can carry guns, according to the state Department of Justice.
Another may be about to join the list. The Industrial Commission, which
decides worker's compensation claims, could have sworn law officers under a
bill that passed the Senate this week.
The commission already has four investigators, each with formal
law-enforcement training, said the commission's chairman, Buck Lattimore.
The agency wants to give them the full authority of sworn officers,
including arrest powers and the ability to carry guns, as they investigate
about 100 cases a year.
Lattimore said some cases involve drug dealers and "fly-by-night" criminals.
"It's just some rough, tough characters," he said. "We've had some
protection issues over the years. All we can do now is make citizens
arrests."
More important than being armed, agency representatives say, is that they
have full powers of arrest. That means that if a revenuer or an insurance
investigator needs to put a crook in jail or search a drug house, he doesn't
have to tie up a local cop or deputy -- or fear as much for his life.
"We want to make sure that our officers are safe," said Shane Guyant,
assistant director of the Department of Insurance's Investigations Division.
"And we have to have the ability to go into each of the 100 counties and
make arrests. It relieves local police and sheriff's deputies of the burden
of having to make these cases."
The state's 21 insurance investigators probe embezzlements, medical billing
fraud, staged car accidents, and bail-bonding crimes. They file charges,
make about 100 felony arrests a year, and help prosecute in state and
federal court.
Fake car crashes
And then, Guyant said, there was the Jordanian man who was wanted recently
for faking car crashes so he could collect money to send to Hamas, an
extremist Palestinian political party.
"We don't just deal with lawyers and doctors," said Guyant, who carries his
office's standard-issue .40-caliber Heckler & Koch pistol. "We deal with
everybody, from chiropractors to thugs on the street. Even terrorists."
To be sure, that's unusual. But officials at several state agencies said
they couldn't do their jobs as well without sworn law officers.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's office, for example, employs nine law
officers. Four of them investigate securities fraud, two look into trademark
violations, two probe notary fraud, and one -- a retired Raleigh police
officer -- enforces lobbying laws.
Grave issues
"Given the gravity of the issues we deal with in the lobbying division, we
feel it's important to have a sworn law-enforcement officer with a high
level of experience," said Liz Proctor, a spokeswoman for the agency. "Our
officers deal with specialized areas of the law. It's helpful to have
officers who can make arrests."
So far, it seems, no lobbyist has required shooting.
It appears that the Industrial Commission is likely to join the the ranks of
the armed.
The bill cleared the Senate, and the House is poised to approve it with
minor changes after it gets a report on the bill's fiscal impact. Lattimore
said that would come to about $10,000 a year more, mostly for increased
pension pay.
There's no opposition as far as he knows, Lattimore said.
"This is not something out of the ordinary," he said. "It's for the
protection of our folks, as well as expediting our process while freeing up
local law-enforcement."
SIDEBAR:
LAW OFFICERS ABOUND
Besides obvious law-enforcement outfits such as the State Capitol Police,
dozens of other agencies employ sworn law officers, according to state
records.
Some are state universities and community colleges with their own police
forces. Others are local alcohol sales and enforcement agencies.
Here are some others of note:
Dorothea Dix Hospital
Department of Insurance
Department of Revenue
Forest Resources Division
Wildlife Resources Commission
Marine Patrol
State Parks
State Ports
General Assembly
Supreme Court
N.C. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
