Federal Bureau of Investigation

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the investigative division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Since 1934 the FBI has had general charge of investigating violations of federal laws.

The bureau was established in 1908 by Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte in response to President Theodore Roosevelt’s need for an investigative agency to handle “land thieves” in the West and big-business “trusts” in the East. The agency began as a small group of investigators in the Department of Justice.

In 1924, when the 29-year-old J. Edgar Hoover was appointed as director of the bureau, a major advance began. Hoover instituted an immediate reorganization setting new standards of qualifications for appointment as a special agent and a system of specialized training for all personnel.

Under Director Hoover’s leadership, by the end of the 1960s, the FBI, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., had field offices in 59 major cities and 526 resident offices serving 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. There were offices in 11 major foreign cities. The investigative work was performed by more than 16,000 employees: 7,200 special agents and 9,100 clerical, stenographic, and technical personnel.

The FBI investigates some 170 different matters, the more important of which are espionage, sabotage, treason, violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and other activities affecting internal security; kidnapping, extortion, bank robbery, burglary, and larceny in federal institutions; bribery, interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles, aircraft, or property; interstate travel for racketeering purposes; interstate traffic affecting civil rights; fraud against the government or thefts on government property; crimes aboard aircraft; crimes on government or Indian reservations; and assaulting or killing the President. Federal results of FBI investigations are reported to the U.S. Attorney General, whose office has the responsibility for deciding whether to prosecute and for conducting such prosecution.

There are three basic components providing the effective work of the Bureau. They are Identification Division, the FBI Laboratory, Training Division.

Identification Division. In 1924 the Identification Division of the FBI was established by act of Congress. More than 800,000 fingerprints were forwarded to it from the Bureau of Criminal Identification to form the present collection, which in 1969 numbered 191 million representing more than 83 million persons.

The value of these records, the world’s largest fingerprint repository, is incalculable, for fingerprints offer the best means of positive personal identification. Approximately 29,000 fingerprint cards are received each workday for processing.

Laboratory Division. The FBI Laboratory is the greatest criminological laboratory in the world. During the first 35 years of its existence, this laboratory made approximately 4,000,000 scientific examinations. Today, this laboratory is a large complex of scientific equipment and highly qualified specialists.

There are over 100 Special Agents with specialized training in different scientific fields. Many crimes are solved with the help of laboratory examination. In many cases laboratory examinations proved innocence of the suspect.

Crime Information Center

In January 1967 a new rival to the scientific laboratory and fingerprint identification service provided to all police agencies emerged in the National Crime Information Center. This computerized index of information concerning crime and criminals was installed in the Washington headquarters of the FBI, to complement the metropolitan and statewide electronic systems. The center includes data on stolen automobiles, certain stolen property, and all wanted persons. More than one million active records are on file. Vigorous research continues on the collection and storage of other criminal statistics and crime data. The center’s vital information is available almost immediately to any police officer through radio communication and electronic means.

Average citizens are informed of the crime trends in the nation and their own community through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which collects, analyzes, and publishes crime figures for the Unites States.

Trained Special Agent. The third basic component in the daily operations of the FBI is the trained special agent. The bureau selects candidates for agent with care. Any U.S. citizens, age 23 to 34, who is a graduate of a law school, or who is a graduate of a resident four-year college dealing with accounting or physical science, or who is fluent in a language for which the bureau has a need, or who has three years of other specialized experience, is eligible. A lawyer has the analytical approach and logical method important for the investigation of criminal cases. The accountants are invaluable also, for much of the bureau’s work is connected with business operations.

These highly educated agents first have initial training – they work with older and more experienced agents. For all the agents there are special refreshing courses and special programs, so constant training is held periodically.

Special Investigation Division. Organized crime is a lawless empire making money from gambling, narcotics, prostitution, extortion, etc. For years organized crime operated behind an impenetrable wall built on fear, bribery, and force.

FBI officers are doing their best to find criminals and to bring them to court. Their aim is to collect evidence for it. Cooperation is very important in the fight against organized crime.

FBI officers work in close cooperation with state and local agencies.

This division also tries to locate escaped prisoners or deserters from the Armed Forces.

 

Vocabulary

Attorney General n Генеральный атторней (амер. Министр юстиции)

bribery n взяточничество

Bureau of Criminal Identification n Бюро установления личности по

уголовным делам

burglary n проникновение в чужое помещение с целью грабежа или убийства;

грабеж со взломом

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Содружество Пуэрто-Рико

complement v дополнить

conduct v проводить (расследование)

Department of Justice n Департамент юстиции (Министерство юстиции в

США)

espionage n шпионаж

extortion n вымогательство

field office n периферийное отделение

fraud n обман, мошенничество

gambling n азартная игра / игры

handle v рассматривать (дело); вести дело

Identification Division n отдел установления / опознания личности

impenetrable adj непроницаемый; непроходимый; impenetrable wall n непробиваемая стена

incalculable adj несметный, неисчислимый

initial training n первоначальная подготовка

in response to в ответ на

institute v начинать

invaluable adj бесценный

investigator ­ n следователь

is eligible v имеет право; отвечает требованиям

larceny n хищение, кража

prosecute v преследовать в судебном порядке

refreshing courses n курсы повышения квалификации

repository n хранилище

rival n соперник, конкурент

sabotage n саботаж, диверсия

set standards v устанавливать стандарты

treason n измена

trust n 1 трест, промышленное объединение; 2 траст; доверительная

собственность

violate v нарушать (право, закон, договор)

violation n нарушение (права, закона, договора); violation of federal laws нарушение федеральных законов

 

Reading tasks

Answer the questions.

 

1 What are the matters within FBI jurisdiction?

2 What are the main divisions of the FBI?

3 What are the functions of the FBI agents?

4 Who helps the FBI officers with their work?

5 What do the FBI agents do to develop their professional qualities?

Language focus

A Read the article. Find and correct five mistakes in the use of past time clauses. The first mistake has already been corrected.

driving

Yesterday, a man was talking on his mobile phone while he was drive his car. Maybe he checking his diary while he was making his next appointment. He was certainly not concentrating on the road when the lights suddenly was turning red. The two men in the street were trying to jump out of the way when they saw him but it was too late. No one was badly hurt but that was just luck. Last year, the City Council weren't passing the 'talking and driving' law. We need that law!

 

B Rewrite these sentences from newspaper articles as headlines to the articles. Use the underlined words and phrases to help you.

 

0 The chief inspector of prisons last night called for the release of the Bulger killers.

Prisons chief calls for release of Bulger killers

................................................................

	1A High Court judge has blocked the proposed ban on tobacco adverts.		4The private member’s bill on fox-hunting did not achieve the support needed last night to become law.

 

…………………………………………….

2The chief of police admitted that errors were made during the Chinese President’s visit to the UK.

……………………………………….

	5The government of India has snubbed the Pope on the eve of his visit to the country, as they have refused his invitation to attend a multi-faith gathering.

 

…………………………………………….

3 Radio 1, the BBC’s pop music station, has outshone all its commercial radio rivals in a recent poll.

………………………………………

	6 Makers of the latest Leonardo DiCaprio film are facing a huge protest from locals over their treatment of a beach used for filming.

 

 

…………………………………………….

………………………………………

Vocabulary tasks

A Match the words from columns in order to make logical word combinations. Translate them into Russian.

	crime	a	to give
	prosecution	b	to identify
	evidence	c	to process
	organized crime	d	to solve
	fingerprints	e	to commit
		f	to prove
		g	to conduct
		h	to fight against
		i	to investigate

 

 

B Match these legal terms with their definitions.

	police officer	a	a person who commits a crime
	investigate	b	a weapon used by the police
	felony	c	violent demonstration
	riot	d	a person who tries to prevent crime and keep public order
	burglary	e	a robbery in the street
	mugging	f	make a careful study of something
	truncheon	g	a serious crime such as murder
	criminal	h	the crime of getting into a building to steal things

 

C Complete this TV news report about a bank robbery by using the prepositions from the box.

 

	for to from by of

 

 

‘Now for our other news. Two men were prevented 1) _____ escaping after trying to rob the Commercial Savings Bank today. The men were arrested 2) _____ armed robbery and taken to the Boston police station 3) _____ officers who arrived quickly on the scene. The men are also accused 4) _____ carrying and using dangerous weapons. If they are found guilty, they could be sentenced 5) _____ a maximum of five years in prison.’

 

D Circle the best answer (a), (b), (c) or (d).

1 In a (n) …, dial 999 to call the police.

a) emergency b) duty c) chase d) patrol

2 The … was found inside the house when the owners came home.

a) shoplifter b) mugger c) burglar d) pickpocket

3 Police … with dangerous situations every day.

a) catch b) complain c) arrest d) deal

4 The shoplifter is … with a prison sentence of 9 months.

a) smuggling b) shift c) deal d) faced

5 The man was … about parking his car in front of the police station.

a) warned b) fined c) prevented d) apologized

6 Lost …is kept for two months, then it is sold.

a) handed in b) valuable c) property d) community

 

Over to you

Compare the functions of Scotland Yard and the FBI.