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 As Trials of Waco Survivors Open in Texas, ACLU, NRA, Others Ask Clinton to 
Address Federal Police Abuses

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 1994

     WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Rifle
Association and other organizations from across the political spectrum
today called on President Clinton to appoint a national commission to
investigate serious allegations of abuse by federal law enforcement
agencies and to recommend steps that must be taken to reduce
constitutional and human rights violations by federal law enforcement
personnel.

     Led by the ACLU, the organizations delivered a letter to the
President in which they pointed out that federal law enforcement
authorities now comprise close to 10 percent of the nation's total police
forces. Some 53 separate federal agencies -- from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and
from the U.S. Mint Police Force to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police --
have the authority to carry fire arms and make arrests, the organizations
said, a figure that represents an "enormous expansion in recent years in
terms of both personnel and jurisdiction."

     "What is lacking," the ACLU and the other organizations said in
their letter, "is systematic oversight and review of federal police
practices." Such lapses, the organizations said, have led to serious
allegations of abuse, including the improper use of deadly force, use of
unreliable informants without sufficient verification of their
allegations and physical abuse.

     The call for a national commission came as the survivors of the
confrontation between the Branch Davidians and the FBI and the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, went on trial in San Antonio,
Texas.

     "Independent experts have already questioned the federal law
enforcement practices that led to the tragic deaths of so many men, women
and innocent children," said Laura Murphy Lee, the Director of the ACLU's
Washington Office.

     "We, of course, recognize that the majority of federal officers
strive, often under dangerous and demanding circumstances, to carry out
their duties in a restrained, lawful and professional manner," Murphy
added. "But at the same time, we know that the Waco confrontation was not
an isolated incident."

     In addition to the ACLU and the NRA, the other organizations issuing
the call include the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear
Arms; the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation; the Drug Policy Foundation;
the Independence Institute; the International Association for Civilian
Oversight of Law Enforcement; National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers; the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and the Second
Amendment Foundation.

                            --endit--
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