[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            LAW ENFORCEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado [Mr. McInnis] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, a little of my background. I used to be a 
police officer. I believe very strongly in a lot of the activities of 
law enforcement in this country. After I got out of law school, I never 
really could practice defense law because my heart was not in it. I am 
too much of a pro-policeman type of person.
  But I also have a very deep and fundamental belief that we have civil 
rights in this country that are guaranteed by our Constitution. In 
fact, if you look at the preamble to our Constitution, and I will quote 
from the Constitution, we, the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect union, establish justice, and inferred in the name 
of the word ``justice'' is fairness, it is reasonableness. We do not 
have a Gestapo type of society. We do not sanction Gestapo type of 
tactics by law enforcement.
  Now follow me into July of this year. In July of this year, we had a 
horrible, horrible situation down at the Olympics where somebody set 
off a bomb. It was a fatality, a couple of fatalities. Within a couple 
of days, the FBI or someone from the law enforcement agencies leaked to 
the media that they had fingered their suspect. This began the long 
nightmare for one individual called Richard Jewell. Within hours, this 
is the headline that appears on the New York Post, ``Saint or Savage?'' 
Within hours, another picture, ``I didn't do it.'' This is Richard 
Jewell. ``I didn't do it.''

                              {time}  2230

  Throughout this entire country instantly, instantly this man's name 
became a household name, a man to be held in disgust, a man who is 
being labeled as the bomber of the Olympics.
  Well, the FBI does as the FBI should do. They immediately executed 
search warrants. They went to Mr. Jewell's home he shared with his 
mother. They went through that home. They seized everything they 
possibly could seize, including their silverware, tupperware, and she 
said even her Disney tapes.
  These are the conclusions 2 months later. Washington Post: After 2 
months of exhaustive investigation of the Atlanta Olympics bombing, 
Federal law enforcement officials have found no solid evidence linking 
former security guard Richard Jewell to a pipe bomb attack, according 
to senior officials.
  It goes on. One senior law enforcement official said investigators 
who have combed Jewell's apartment, Jewell's truck, and Jewell's 
previous residence have found no conclusive bomb residue, no witnesses 
to the attack, no accomplices. Moreover, preliminary analysis of the 
911 phone call placed minutes before the bombing suggests that the 
caller was not Jewell.
  What is happening to this man? Every minute of his life he has FBI 
agents that follow him. If he pulls out in his car to the grocery 
store, he has four or five law enforcement cars that go everywhere he 
goes. He cannot even contact his friends for fear of instigating an 
investigation of his friends.
  My message to the FBI: If you have got the evidence, arrest him. If 
you do not, back off. If the man is a suspect--if the man is a suspect 
and you have got that evidence, then go get him. It is simple. All of 
us want this case resolved. But none of us should stand by and allow a 
citizen of this great country, especially a country where thousands and 
thousands of people have given their lives to maintain our fundamental 
foundation of justice; we should not stand by and let this persecution 
continue unless the FBI has investigation--excuse me, has evidence.
  Now let me tell you how the FBI treats their own people. They have 
right now two or three agents who are being investigated for their 
involvement or alleged misconduct at Ruby Ridge. This has been going on 
for a long period of time. These agents are not followed. These agents 
do not wake up in the morning to find lots of cameras and FBI cars and 
other law enforcement cars riding their bumper. They do not have to 
worry about going to the grocery store and being followed by Federal 
law enforcement officials. No.
  What the FBI does with its own, they put these people on paid leave. 
The deputy director, for example. He receives $122,000 a year, and he 
does absolutely nothing. Including benefits. He gets benefits on top of 
that.
  Now I am not questioning whether that is justice or not, but what I 
am questioning is that I think the director of the FBI and the agents 
of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies need to apply the golden 
rule, and that is do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  We demand justice here. If he has got the evidence, get him; if he 
does not, back off.

                          ____________________