NCJ Number
79178
Journal
Police Magazine Volume: 4 Issue: 5 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 6-11,14-15,17-22
Date Published
1981
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Past law enforcement abuses in intelligence gathering, new legal limits recently placed on such activities, and some efforts to remove these limits are discussed.
Abstract
Many Federal, State, and local law enforcement intelligence units have been shown to have exceeded the constitutional limits placed upon intervention into citizens' lives. These abuses have included warrantless searches and entries, illegal wiretapping, and questionable undercover surveillance practices often deemed by courts to have been unwarranted invasions of privacy. Intelligence units have also been instructed to collect intelligence information on groups and individuals voicing controversial ideologies and engaging in public protect demonstrations, even though evidence of any criminal activity was lacking. New laws at various governmental levels have aimed at curbing such surveillance abuses. Although not of statutory status, the 1976 guidelines set by Attorney General Edward Levi continue to govern the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) 'domestic security' operations. The primary intent of the guidelines is to limit investigatory operations involving groups and individuals to those occasions when allegations of specific criminal acts have been received. Many State statutes and local ordinances have taken this same approach in limiting their law enforcement investigative activities. Many law enforcement officials, politicians, and citizens believe such restrictions hamper police crime prevention activities by requiring that crime become overt before the police can become involved. Many in the Reagan administration appear to support this view.