[OT] An interview with a former ATF agent

I scanned it and did a short search......correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there an ATF agent in California in the mid 90's (possibly in this guy's field office) torching buildings and killing innocents? Despite lifting his finger prints he was not a suspect until he slipped up on a 'field' trip to another city in California at taxpayer expense. I don't know if it was San Diego or San Jose which was involved somewhere in the chain of events.........the short story, the ATF for some reason, had their fingerprint 'pro' who couldn't match this guys fingerprints with the crime scene until he was called on it by the press

I don't recall that he was an ATF agent, I believe he was a state arson investigator. A very good one - he had inside info, it turns out :)

It occurred to me after I made the original post that it may be possible to find an ex-ATF agent whom people like Jerry or Aerotech dealt with in the early years of the APCP motor debacle. Interviewing such a person could potentially be quite enlightening as to the motivations and behavior of the ATF. There is surely some turnover in the ranks, and if anyone is going to talk it would probably be an ex-agent (though you might wonder if you are really getting the truth if they have an axe to grind with their former employer, on the other hand - they could be inclined to actually talk about it for that reason as well). Got your Rolodex handy Jerry?

Brad Hitch

snipped-for-privacy@tda.com (Brad Hitch) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

See also:

Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It by James Q. Wilson

len.

Brad

Thanks for helping clear the cobwebs.........was he part of the California arson whatever? Or was he fed? The big mystery as I recall was how the fingerprints were mistaken by someone inside the same department, but all of a sudden everything was clear as a bell when the same guy was confronted and told to look again. All of a sudden a light went on, like maybe a television light.........I'm wondering who that guy worked for.....

The thin blue line of course.

You should see how when there is a "bad shooting" in a poverty area all of a sudden cops show up who "amazingly were eye witnesses".

Over and over.

Jerry