Honoring The Sacrifice Of American Law Enforcement OfficersGregory Starr, Acting Assistant Secretary of State May 14, 2008 Thank you Chairman Floyd for that kind introduction. Directors of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Award recipients, and distinguished guests: As Director of the Diplomatic Security Service and Acting Assistant Secretary of the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, I am honored to address this annual awards luncheon today. As most of you know, the non-profit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of America’s law enforcement officers, and since 1996 has recognized federal, state and local officers for exemplary service and duty through its Officer of the Month Program. Mark Twain observed a century ago that “There are basically two types of people: people who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things – and the first group is less crowded.” That’s still very much the case today. That’s why I am delighted to join in honoring fourteen remarkable individuals whose selfless acts of service and assistance have contributed meaningfully toward making America a better and safer place. Some are being honored in connection with specific heroic incidents or anti-crime operations. Others have demonstrated outstanding leadership in directing valuable advocacy or charitable programs. All are true heroes of the law enforcement profession. To each of the awardees, I say: this is well-deserved recognition for exceptional performance within your chosen career field. Please accept our collective gratitude for your exceptional initiative, courage, devotion to duty, and inspiration to others. Those of us here today, as well as in your own communities, truly appreciate all that you have done, and are still doing every day. This is a very proud day for our two Diplomatic Security Service Special Agents, Donovan Williams and Kendall Beels, and for all of us at Diplomatic Security. Agents Williams and Beels planned and coordinated a massive crackdown on a multi-million-dollar visa fraud ring that became the largest and most successful arrest operation of 2006 in our New York Field Office. In addition to seizing several million dollars in assets and making numerous arrests, their investigative efforts uncovered over 350 sham marriages. All of those honored today represent some of the finest in the crime prevention and public service communities at the outset of this 21st century. Law enforcement is now an integral element of the era of globalization. There was a time when most crimes were naturally confined by the limitations of geography and human capacity. For the most part, crime could be defined by locality and nationality. However, in this age of globalized commerce, travel, and virtually boundless communication technologies, trans-national crime is all too commonplace. Neither physical nor political boundaries are barriers to crime. And this affects us all, in many ways, at every level of society. Fortunately the “long arm of the law,” in all its many forms, has also been extended across the parameters of space and time. More daunting challenges have been met by ever-increasing capacities to investigate criminal activity and apprehend perpetrators. Today there are nearly two thousand U.S. federal law enforcement agents, overall, working tirelessly overseas to fight international crime – including those with the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Secret Service; the Department of the Navy’s Naval Criminal Investigative Service; and of course the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. It goes without saying that inter-agency cooperation and the coordination of resources, together with timely sharing of information, are absolutely critical to success in achieving mutual crime-fighting and national security objectives. I’m not just talking about Federal inter-agency coordination either. This information sharing effort must include local, city, and state police agencies as well as Federal law enforcement agencies. As a global security and law enforcement organization, DSS operates at the very nexus of national and international efforts, and our mission is not an easy one. Our traditional role of safeguarding people, property, and information is a key responsibility. In addition, our responsibility is not only to support the diplomatic mission of the State Department, it also is to help protect our homeland from terrorists, spies, and criminals. The threats we Americans face, both domestically and abroad, are real and growing. By directly participating in complex criminal investigations, DSS performs a valuable law enforcement role both inside and outside the U.S. We coordinate closely with other U.S. agencies – and with local police departments and task forces – to share information, resources, and planning. In fact, the activities we undertake everyday contribute to the overall law enforcement structure within this country, both national and local in scope. Diplomatic Security has 24 field offices in the United States, and 200 Regional Security Officers in U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world, where our Special Agents and investigators work on various criminal cases in coordination with local, state, and other federal agencies. Everyday, these Agents conduct a wide variety of investigations covering passport and visa fraud; identity theft; counterintelligence; protective intelligence and counterterrorism; and personnel, information, and computer security. Passport and visa fraud often is connected to other crimes with direct local implications -- narcotics trafficking and alien smuggling, for example – by those who are attempting to change their identities and conceal their activities and movements. Last year was a record for our criminal investigators, as their investigations resulted in 1550 individual arrests in the United States on visa, passport, and other fraud charges, in addition to 406 arrests on similar charges overseas. To cite one example right here in the Washington area, our investigators identified and arrested a document vendor who had sold fraudulent identity documents to 191 individuals. He was subsequently convicted, ordered to forfeit $3.1 million in assets, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. By protecting the integrity of U.S. travel documents, our aim is to help local law enforcement by reducing incidents of use of fraudulent identification media. Our international pressure also assists the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in locating and arresting fugitives hiding here and abroad. Many of these are well-known murderers, pedophiles, and others on the top lists of United States law enforcement agencies. In 2007, DS assisted with the roundup of 113 fugitives internationally and domestically, of whom seven were wanted for murder, 31 for sexual assaults of minors, and 14 for narcotics charges. Two were particularly infamous child molesters who had been featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted”. The international nature of terrorism and crime today requires close cooperation among our agencies. My own bureau participates in 27 Joint Terrorism Task Forces monitoring terrorist and other threat activities, to prevent violent acts against Americans and American interests. In fact, DSS is heavily invested in counterterrorism programs to improve our security at home and overseas – including the Department of State’s implementation of the Information Sharing Environment, a government-wide effort to share terrorism information across federal, state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. Expanding federal efforts, such as the new Law Enforcement Strategy to Combat International Organized Crime announced last month by the U.S. Attorney General, should provide additional opportunities for inter-agency coordination. This on-going DSS liaison work with U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and personnel, and with our foreign police partners, is a key component in the larger domestic security and law enforcement picture, with both direct and indirect impact. And although the Diplomatic Security Service’s work often occurs outside U.S. borders, the crimes we address overlap national boundaries and help us out here at home in a great many ways. Our efforts overseas are promoting stronger working relations with our foreign police colleagues which ultimately benefit America. Our Antiterrorism Assistance program, for instance, is teaching the latest counter-terrorism and investigative techniques to thousands of friendly foreign law enforcement officers in the Near East, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa – fighting terrorism before it reaches our shores. And our joint operations with police forces of other nations are shutting down overseas document counterfeiting operations behind U.S. visa and green card fraud, illegal immigration, alien smuggling, and drug trafficking – reducing the job a little here at home. My basic point is this: given the modern globalized context within which law enforcement operates, better planning, cooperation and coordination is the key to success against international crime and terrorism threats. The Diplomatic Security Service’s objective as a law enforcement partner organization is combatting threats to American citizens and the national interest. When all is said and done, though, it is individual human initiative, creativity, and courage that remain the indispensable components. Coach Vince Lombardi emphasized this point: “Individual commitment to a group effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” The professionals we honor today remind us of that, and inspire all of us to do more – individually and collectively – for the cause of law enforcement. Thanks once again to all of you for sharing in this special day. I would now like to do a roll call of our honorees: Officer Kevin Trees, Louisville, KY Metro Police Dept. Officer Keith Klopfer, Florida Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Detective Kenneth Robinson, City of Overland, MO Police Dept. Master Officer Ken Hammond, Ogden City, UT Police Dept. Detective Bryan McMahon, Lowell, MA Police Dept. Detective John O’Toole, Los Angeles, CA Police Dept. Detective Tina Lacertosa, Broward County, FL Sheriff’s Office Corporal Philip Crosby and Patrolman Christopher Denton, Fayetteville, AR Police Dept. Special Agent Paul Buta, U.S Secret Service Detective Michael Madonna, Oakland, NJ Police Dept. Special Agent Kendall Beels and Special Agent Donovan Williams, U.S. Dept of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Sergeant Stephanie Jackson, Tulsa, OK Police Dept. |
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