Improved Atf Training Sought Agency Gets Sympathetic Hearing Before House Panel

Thu., March 7, 1996

Richard Eames Staff writer

Charlie is 2 years old and weighs 70 pounds, but he gave the most effective testimony before a House appropriations subcommittee Wednesday.

A Labrador retriever used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to sniff out explosives, Charlie scampered across Capitol Hill’s finest red carpet to show off his well-trained nose.

Subcommittee members stressed the importance of bringing the training of other ATF employees up to Charlie’s standard.

“In our deliberations on dollars, we have to concentrate on dollars for training,” said Rep. Jim Lightfoot, R-Iowa, subcommittee chairman.

The hearing on how much the Treasury Department should spend on law enforcement was largely sympathetic to the ATF, which gets $377 million a year to enforce the nation’s laws on guns, liquor, tobacco, explosives and arson.

Better training could reduce the possibility of episodes such as Ruby Ridge and Waco that have hurt the ATF’s public image, Lightfoot said.

Director John Magaw told the subcommittee “the key thing missing at Waco was attention to training.” Some agents still go too long without refresher training.

The ATF’s 1993 raid on David Koresh’s Texas compound turned into a deadly gunbattle.

“The last thing we want our people doing is knocking the door down,” Magaw said. “Agents should try to find another way to make an arrest.”

Since Waco, the ATF has an intelligence unit in each field division, and federal law enforcement agents are training together once a month, he said.

Last December, a Senate subcommittee criticized the bureau for exaggerating the danger that white separatist Randy Weaver posed at Ruby Ridge in August 1992.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who chaired the Ruby Ridge hearings, wants to abolish the bureau. But Lightfoot said the ATF should remain in the Treasury Department.

“Moving ATF from Treasury to Justice would bring us one step closer to treating gun owners like criminals,’ said Lightfoot, a strong Second Amendment supporter. “I will never make that step.’

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said coordination between agencies is the key to preserving the “American tradition” of having federal law enforcement agencies in different departments.

The House subcommittee will hold a full day of hearings on the future of the ATF April 25 after the General Accounting Office - Congress’ investigative arm - releases a report on the bureau.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also intends to hold ATF hearings next month.

, DataTimes

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