If you have issues viewing or accessing this file, please contact us at NCJRS.gov. , • • •• • CONTENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR t"'). Q >"2.- ,-7 , ANAGING THE MAN WITH THE GUN, by Bruce L. Danto, M.D., Assod!lIe Professor, Department of : ~.'~'~ . Psychiatry, Wayne State University, and Director, '. ~. CSuicide Prevention Center, Detroit, Mich. 3 EVALUATION PROGRAM FOR INVESTIGATIVE RE­ PORT WRITING, by Capt. John J. Harris, Jr., Flori- da Division of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco, Miami, Fla. 10 S-"2.. 2. ~ 0 REPORT WRITING BLUNDERS: THE CASE OF THE MISSING NAIL, by John E. McHale, Jr., Special [ Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wash- ington, D.C. ~ "2.... 2.."'i! , 13 . I . • I "T .. • • , • " THE METRO TRANSIT POLICE FORCE: AMERICA'S . • . - " I • • FIRST TRISTATE, MULTIJURISDICTIONAL POLICE TT "- - - - • • • '- - FORCE, by Capt. Martin Hannon, Director of Training, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Police, Washington, D.C. 16 • • , . ~'Lfl.7J2- \NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON OPERATION IDENTIFI- l- CATION PRESCRIBES BASIC STANDARDS 23 ~2..~!'w~ HE WARRANT REQUIREMENT IN CRIME SCENE . '. .' . .. SEARCHES (Part Il by Joseph R. Davis, Special Agent, Legal Counsel Division, Federal Bureau of [ Investigation, Washingtoli, D.C. 26 WANTED BY THE FBI 32 THE COVER November's cover features Metrorail, a part of our capital's mass transit sys­ .. tem protected by the Mf:tro Transit Police Force (MTPI. See article on page 16. (Paul Myatt photograph) ~ .~ .. ~ ~ .... ~., :.": .. •• • .. I I ~I ,. J , . , ..I ..I I ~. ... ,~. ~..,."''';. .~~.; ~:, "~,~.~;~ -)tT:jf!,. '~. I. i )) "Paperwork is an essential part of any law enforcement officer's duties. Lack of preparation can have serious reper­ • cussions, regardless of how trivial it may seem at the time." (My mother always told me to watch out for flowerpot are, but I suppose that will have to wait for a later re­ thieves. They're the worst kind.) port.) • In Jhe meantime, I hope you get the general idea. Correcting grammar is not just an exercise in nitpick­ ing. Often it goes to the very heart of what the writer is trying to say. Law enfOrCell1elit officers spend hundreds of hours on the firearms range during their careers, although most of them will retire without ever having fired a • ;; shot. At the same time, they are required daily to put their work down on paper, but no one bothers to tell them how to do it. Part of this problem is being corrected as the edu· cational levd of police officers rises, but even a college • degree offers no assurance that the holder can compose F) a coherent sentence. What we need is more emphasIs in our training programs on the impf}l't:l!1,' ~e of accu· I" rate, understandable reportcwrit:hg. !i Possibly, SOme agencies may feel that1they do not have an instructor capable of handling such an assign. ment. If so, I would recommend that they consider bor· "When the subject, West, lunged at the patrolman rowing one, as necessary, from the staff of a local high with a knife in his hand, the patrolman said that he had school or 'llniversity. no alternative except to shoot West in the left shoulder." Paperwork is an essential part of any law enforce~ (1 don't know; 1 think he could just as well have shot ment officer's duties. Lack of preparation can have him in the right shoulder, or else he could have broken serious repercussioI1S, regardless, of how trivial 'it may • up this thought into two sentences rather than use such seem at the time. an awkward construction.) As George Herbert pointed out back in the 17th cen· "Warden Smith advised that recently there have been tury, the loss of a simple nail cost, in turn, a horse, numerous incidents of the prisoners or visitors smug­ the horse's rider, the battle they were fighting, and gling drugs into the stockade which never before existed eventually, the kingdom itself. Three centuries later, except on rare occasions." (Wow! This one is a real attention to detail is just as ir?;~ortant. beaut. I almost wish I had thought of it myself.) Reg~!f,lrly we go into court and ask juries to convict "The group announced its intention to disrupt a per­ criminals based on evidence inVIsible to the naked eye. formance at the theater and to ridicule an event spon­ But how can we expect people 'to believe what they can't sored by the Army by various means." (Maybe the see when what they do see is filled with errors? demonstrators wouldn't have been so angry if the Army Credibility is based on truth; truth is based on ac· had used only one means.) curacy. With a little bit of effort, we ought to be able "The subject quite frequently sells various gamblers to get the three of them together. After that, I can aban· in the area automobiles." (1 didn't think there was that don my hobby of collecting "bloopers" and turn to much of a market for used gamblers at the present time. something more constructive, like upside-down stamps Actually, this sentence !iounds like the old classic where or coins. the immigrant farmer reportedly told someone, "J threw the cow over the fence a bale of hay.") "What are the true facts in this matter"? (Some day l'OOTNOTE I would like to see someone ask what the untrue facts 1 FBI Emu En/orcement Bulletin, Vul. ·17, No.2, Fe},ruary 1978, pp. 20-31. November 1970 15 I J • A'lIeriea~s Fi,·st Tristate~ ~Iulti- • By CAPT. MARTIN HANNON Director of Training Washington Metropolitan Area • Transit Authority Police Wushillgton, D.C. -------------\\ !. 1 I Metro Mass Transportation in the of operational track and 29 rail sta­ Greater \Vashingtoll tions located in the heart of downtown Metropolitan Area Washington and its surrounding sub­ On March 27, 1976, Washington, urbs. The system offers rapid rail D.C., proudly joined the list of The greater Washington metropoli­ service from 6 a.m. to midnight dur­ other international capital cities hene­ tan area has a population of 2.87 mil­ ing weekdays, with limited weekend fiting from an integrated mass transit lion, with an anticipated growth of service. facility. Washington's system is known 11 4.7 million by 1995. For compact pur­ During weekday rush hour cycles, I· officially as the Washington Metro­ poses, Washington, D.C., a 69.2 Metrohus has approximately 1,600 politan Area Transit Authority square-mile area containing an esti­ huses on the streets, servicing 775 I. (WMATA), and is comprised of Met­ mated 750,000 residents, was granted estahlished bus routes located through­ rohus, a surface transit facility, and legal status as a coequal paliner with out the transit zone. These buses log Metrorail, the first tristate, fully au­ Maryland and Virginia. 156,000 route-miles per day. They tomated, high-speed, mass transit rail Metrorail, in the greater Wl ashing­ average 16,000 trips per week, while system in the United States. ton metropolitan area, is the interur­ carrying approximately 2.4. million WMATA was formed by an inter­ ban link for a new aerial-surface-sub­ passengers. I state compact adopted hy Maryland, terranean mass transit continuum. It • Virginia, and the District of Columbia provides rapid rail service to Union Ridership City Council with the consent of ·the Station, one of the major railroad U.S. Congress. WMATA, in law, IlllS terminals on the Atlantic Coast and One period of peak ridership oc­ hoth "body corporate" and "puhlic the home of the National Visitor Cen­ curs between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. These ; service" powers to plan, coordinate, ter. It likewise serves Washington's passengers have been duhbed the • and regulate surface and rapid rail National Airport. "lunch bunch" hy the Washington, mass transit services in the .greater Still in its developmental stage, D.C., press. Metrorail's ridership ma­ Washington metropolitan area. Metrorail has approximately 25 miles trix consists of government workers NOl'ember 1978 17 "[T] he protection of Metro ridership, transit employees, systems technologies, transit properties, and public revenues • poses a police l)roblem of considerable magnitude." (Federal, State, and local), non-Gov­ tions, and a fully automaled fare-card technologies, transit properties, and ernment tertiary service workers, for­ collection system. Additionally, more public ~'evenues poses a police prob­ eign nationals, and tourists. Washing­ than 100 miles of revenue track and lem of considerable Jrmgnituc1l:t. • ton's Board of Trade estimates that 87 station facilities wiII be operational 18 million tourists visit the metropoli­ upon completion. In all, the five pres­ Melt·o Transit Police Force tan area each year. ently planned, color-coded, radial­ alphabet, rEtil-l'oute designations will The Metro Transit Police Force extend outwatc1 from core Washing­ (MTP) came into being as an interim Projected System Hardware lon, D.C., to suburban population cen­ special police force in March 1976. • ters, with Metrobus completing the However, on June 4, 1976, the MTP's It is anticipated that by its projected grid service coverage over the entire authority and responsibilities were completion in 1985 MetroraiI will Washington metropolitan area. Pro­ expanded when the President of the have 556 cars, 7 j urisdictionaUy jected transit revenue is placed at $1 United States signed Public Law 94.- based train repair yards, 5 geograph­ million per day. Metro's work force 306, authorizing the establishment of a ically placed communications relay will number approximately 6,500 and regular police force " ... composed • stations, 29,347 revenue-producing expected patronage is 352 million per of both uniform and plainclothes parking spaces in 32 parking lots, year. personnel . charged with the duty feeder-bus and taxi service lanes at Obviously, the protection of Metro of enforcing the laws of the signa­ outlying suburban train station loca- .ridership, transit employees, systems tories, the laws, ordinances, and regu­ Jations of the political subdivisions thereof in the transit zone, and the • rules and regulations of the Author­ ity." The law further stipulated that " .