Pasadena Star-News

7/27/03

Police task force comes under fire from activists

By Gary Scott and Marshall Allen

When a Whittier man called local police last year to tell them he suspected his neighbors might have ties to terrorists, the department turned the case over to an L.A. County narcotics squad.

Though the decision might appear unusual at first, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, better known as L.A. IMPACT, had recently expanded its mission.

Formed in 1991 to fight the burgeoning drug trade in L.A., the task force's executive council, reacting to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, decided it should undertake an added responsibility: homeland security.

Lacking the resources to check the man's claims, the Whittier Police Department called on L.A. IMPACT to investigate. Task force detectives, who specialize in undercover surveillance, eventually determined that nothing suspicious or illegal was going on and dropped the matter.

It was the first and only time the task force has exercised its counter-terrorism duties, according to Jerry Hunter, director of L.A. IMPACT. Almost a year later, its role as homeland defender remains unclear.

"We are not claiming to be experts in terrorists,' Hunter said. Task force detectives have undergone no special training, nor has L.A. IMPACT received any federal grants to fund the new initiative. Instead, Hunter said his detectives are acting more like foot soldiers in the war on terrorism, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything that they might pass on to a federal agency.

If a police department asks for help on a terrorism-related matter, L.A. IMPACT will answer the call, Hunter said. But if the threat appears credible, "we pass it on to the experts,' he said.

While L.A. IMPACT seems to be downplaying its homeland security role, a resolution circulated last year among member cities has a more aggressive tone.

It says in part, "L.A. IMPACT, as a separate and distinct mission ... shall cooperatively and jointly target, investigate and prosecute individuals who engaged in any activity relating to terrorism and criminal activity which threatens the public health, safety and welfare of citizens.'

A majority of the 33 member cities have adopted the resolution, thereby amending L.A. IMPACT's charter. However, some cities are still considering the resolution, which recently caught the attention of open-government activists.

"We are in the midst of a return to the McCarthy era,' said Richard McKee, president of the California First Amendment Coalition. "What we should have learned is that public oversight and control is essential.'

McKee said he is concerned that L.A. IMPACT operates outside the public's view, which is especially disconcerting considering its foray into counter-terrorism. "'Are you now or have you even been a member of a Muslim organization?' It's that kind of intelligence gathering we have to watch out for,' McKee said.

Operated by the police chiefs from its member cities, L.A. IMPACT's bimonthly meetings are not open to the public. It is also unclear if its written policies and budget are open to public review.

Last week, CFAC asked the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office to determine whether L.A. IMPACT's executive council should be subject to the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act.

Most of the police departments in the San Gabriel Valley are members of L.A. IMPACT. Membership means sharing seized assets in exchange for providing detectives and equipment.

The task force promises to help fight any criminal activity that requires more time, manpower or expertise than a local police department can provide.

La Verne police Chief Ronald Ingels, who chairs L.A. IMPACT's executive council, said the decision to take on homeland defense was a response to the changing times.

"Essentially, after Sept. 11 there was a great deal of concern. The L.A. IMPACT board decided that if a police chief needed something and couldn't get a federal agency, because they were too busy or whatever to look at a problem, that (L.A. IMPACT) would be available.

"There was also talk about a considerable amount of grant money,' Ingels said. "We wanted to be in the position where homeland security would be part of our mission.'

Whittier police Chief David Singer, who serves as vice chairman, said the task force will not conduct extensive terrorist-related investigations, but will instead turn over any pertinent information it collects to federal authorities.

"If we have someone suspicious, we would notify the FBI,' Singer said, adding, "I suppose there could be people that wouldn't be at the level where the FBI would be called.'

Task force detectives won't have to go far. Representatives from the Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, California Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service sit as nonvoting members on L.A. IMPACT's executive council.

Singer disputes the charge that L.A. IMPACT needs more oversight or monitoring. The police chiefs themselves act as checks and balances, he said.

"(They) know the law and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it,' Singer said. "Knowing the chiefs and other agencies involved, there's not one person there that would allow anything illegal to go on.

"We are our own oversight.'

But open-government advocates insist the executive council must be treated like any other local agency, meaning it would have to hold its meetings in public and open its policy and budget documents for public inspections something they say L.A. IMPACT should have done 12 years ago.

"Here we are in the midst of a terrorist frenzy and here is this cloaked organization that doesn't know if it should be open or not,' McKee said.

For those who fear openness could harm task force operations, McKee said the Legislature has made exceptions in the law just for that purpose.

"We all understand some secrecy is authorized when talking about operations, that's clearly spelled out in the law. These other business dealings they have to do in the open,' he said.

Ingels said the task force will abide by whatever the District Attorney's Office decides, though he still does not believe the executive council falls under the definition of a local agency.

"If Mr. Cooley's office determines that we meet that criteria, we will obviously follow the law,' he said. "I don't see there is much to gain from that.'