Agencies Officials’ Comments on Interagency Coordination Problems

Officials of the federal agencies we contacted, some of which had a prior history of coordination problems, all opined that, based on their experience, they did not have extensive interagency coordination problems, such as overlapping or duplicate efforts, jurisdictional disputes, or noncooperation with other agencies in the fugitive apprehension area. USMS and FBI were pursuing the most fugitives wanted by more than one agency. Nevertheless, if such problems do exist, they could jeopardize fugitive apprehension efforts, endanger law enforcement officials and the general public, and waste limited law enforcement resources. We reviewed those findings and found none that dealt with interagency problems. The problem areas primarily involved FBI’s and USMS’ (1) failure to participate on each other’s task forces, (2) disagreements over responsibility for prison escapes when a conspiracy may have been involved, and (3) unwillingness at times to cooperate or withdraw from cases where both had separately been asked to assist in finding other countries’ fugitives who were suspected of being in the United States. OIAP was established, in part, to improve interagency coordination and eliminate waste and duplication in the fugitive area. We agreed with the requesters to focus on determining (1) the extent and nature of any interagency coordination problems among FBI, DEA, and USMS and other federal agencies involved in fugitive investigations and (2) if such problems existed, what actions had been or could be taken to address them. Coordination problems could include unnecessary duplicate or overlapping efforts, jurisdictional disputes, and noncooperation that could adversely affect the efficiency or effectiveness of efforts to apprehend fugitives. U.S. General Accounting Office P.O.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Justice's 1988 federal fugitive apprehension policy, focusing on interagency coordination problems and agencies' efforts to address those problems.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) officials from all federal agencies involved in fugitive apprehension stated that they did not have extensive interagency coordination problems, overlapping or duplicate efforts, or jurisdictional disputes; (2) none of the agencies had empirical data on the 727 fugitives who were wanted by more than one agency; (3) interagency coordination problems could jeopardize fugitive apprehension efforts, endanger law enforcement officials and the general public, and waste limited law enforcement resources; (4) some interagency coordination problems such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service's (USMS) failure to participate in each other's fugitive task forces, disagreements over responsibility for prison escapes involving possible conspiracy charges, and agencies' failure to cooperate with the apprehension of other countries' fugitives adversely affected the effectiveness of federal fugitive apprehension efforts; (5) FBI and USMS have taken actions to deal with interagency problems to improve coordination and eliminate duplication; and (6) Justice established the Office of Investigative Agency Policies to resolve coordination problems, ensure efficiencies in overlapping efforts, and determine whether fugitive responsibilities are properly aligned among agencies.