NCJ Number
106871
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 56 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1987) Pages: 1-7
Date Published
1987
Length
7 pages
Annotation
FBI Director William H. Webster's 9 years at the FBI encompasses a period of major progress toward professionalism both in the FBI and in the law enforcement community as a whole.
Abstract
Webster was educated as a lawyer. The decade of his leadership of the FBI has been marked both by extensive research benefiting law enforcement and by technological advances in the automation of identification records and in the discovery of latent fingerprints. Under Director Webster, the FBI has recognized and supported today's concepts of police professionalism as well as efforts to involve citizens in efforts to reduce crime. During his tenure, the representation of minorities and females in agent forces has increased sharply. The FBI has also coordinated Federal efforts related to Federal drug violations and enhanced training activities. Major gains in knowledge have resulted from the research efforts of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Automated identification procedures are allowing much faster processing of fingerprint record checks and computer readings of fingerprints. The National Crime Information Center is now making criminal arrest records on 10.5 million people accessible to local law enforcement agencies. Recent honors awarded to Director Webster reflect the gratitude of the entire American law enforcement community for his leadership in these and other advances toward professionalism in the last decade. Photographs and 7 footnotes.