Pubdate: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2001 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 Author: Diana Washington Valdez FBI CHIEF LISTS TOP 3 PRIORITIES Drug-trafficking, white collar crime and violent crime investigations are the top three priorities for El Paso's FBI field office, said Hardrick Crawford Jr., the agency's new special agent-in-charge. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will focus on the protection of national infrastructure -- strategic facilities and computer systems -- and international terrorism. Within white-collar crime, the FBI plans to emphasize healthcare fraud, public corruption and governmental fraud. "Governmental fraud wasn't even on the radar screen when I got here," Crawford said. "Yet, we have several school districts and Fort Bliss, and each of these receives lots of federal dollars." Crawford said the FBI likely has not charged any non-police public official with corruption in recent memory "because these kinds of investigations are complex and manpower intensive." Crawford, 52, has been in El Paso since July 20. The new FBI special agent-in-charge shared his objectives for the El Paso field office during a recent meeting of the El Paso Press Club. At the meeting, he said he plans to take a hard line against drug- trafficking, and the corruption that accompanies the drug trade. U.S. officials consider El Paso-Juarez a major drug corridor for the Mexican drug cartels. Juarez experiences two to three drug-related fatal shootings each month, and most of the attacks are attributed to the settling of accounts by drug dealers. "I'm a fierce, fierce opponent of the drug cartel(s)," said Crawford, who has extensive experience in investigating drug-related crimes in Cincinnati and Miami. "I've seen first-hand the effects of drugs in ... neighborhoods, and because of that I'm also opposed to the decriminalization of drugs." Sandalio Gonzalez, special agent-in-charge of El Paso's Drug Enforcement Administration operations, said he had worked with Crawford on drug investigations in Miami, where Gonzalez previously was assigned. "(Crawford) is good," he said. "If the El Paso FBI prioritizes drugs, that's good," said Gonzalez, whose agency is charged with investigating drug-related cases. "It puts that many more agents to work on the problem." In his first few weeks in El Paso, Crawford has been meeting with other law-enforcement agencies and with members of the community. El Paso Police Department Deputy Chief Robert Almonte said he and Police Chief Carlos Leon recently met with Crawford. Almonte, who oversaw drug investigations for the Police Department for more than a dozen years, said he welcomes the FBI's interest in the border's drug-trafficking problem. "Given the level of narcotics we see flowing through this community, we can never have too many people dedicated to investigating," Almonte said. "The only way we're going to get a handle on this is for all the agencies to work together, and to get the community involved through such things as the police Stash House unit. "I also liked that Crawford said he wants to work with the local law- enforcement agencies in El Paso. He's going to be an asset to the community." The International Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons is among the groups Crawford said he plans to meet with in the near future. The organization is seeking to learn the fate of more than 200 people, including 18 to 22 U.S. citizens, who were reported "disappeared" in Juarez since 1993. Someone who has been disappeared has been reported to have been taken away by force, and whose fate remains unknown. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake