Pubdate: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Josh Barbanel RECORDS SHOW AN F.B.I. FOCUS ON TERRORISM Justice Department data released yesterday show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's focus on terrorism has produced a surge in cases classified as terrorism and a decline, at least temporarily, in the prosecution of more traditional federal crimes, like drug trafficking, bank robbery and bank fraud. But the data show that many of the 945 "terrorism" cases referred by the F.B.I. and other federal agencies since Sept. 11 involved minor charges over false documents or immigration rules and that United States attorneys had declined to prosecute half the cases. The information was released by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University. The group obtained the records, from a database that tracks criminal cases referred to the Justice Department, under the Freedom of Information Act. The data hint that in the months after Sept. 11, the F.B.I. was distracted from seeking prosecution in ordinary criminal cases. Referrals dropped 23 percent through December, reaching a low of 2,308 in December, compared with over 3,000 a month before Sept. 11. But by March, the most recent month for which figures were available, referrals in all cases had increased to 3,306. David Burnham, the co-director of the Transactional Clearinghouse, said that despite a decline in the numbers, the proportion of bank robbery, fraud and drug cases was the same as in previous years. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake