Review of Shooting Incidents in the Department of Justice

E & I Report I-2004-010
September 2004

APPENDIX VI: OIG ANALYSIS OF THE ATF RESPONSE

On August 9, 2004, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) sent copies of the draft report to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with a request for written comments. The ATF responded to the OIG in a memorandum dated September 7, 2004. The ATF concurred with all of the recommendations and agreed to participate in the working group, establish a formal reporting relationship with the Civil Rights Division (CRD), and improve the documentation of Review Board findings and recommendations. Our analysis of the ATF's response follows.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1: Establish a working group to consider uniform Department standards for the components' shooting incident reviews.

Summary of ATF Response. The ATF concurred with this recommendation and agreed to participate in the working group.

Status of Recommendation: Recommendation 1 is Resolved - Open. The actions planned by the ATF are responsive to the recommendation. We will close this recommendation when Departmentwide action is complete.

Recommendation 2A: Establish a formal reporting relationship with the CRD.

Summary of ATF Response. The ATF concurred with this recommendation and reported that it is working with CRD attorneys to establish a formal reporting relationship.

Status of Recommendation. Recommendation 2A is Resolved - Open. The actions planned by the ATF are responsive to the recommendation. We will close this recommendation when the ATF provides a copy of the document formalizing the agreement.

Recommendation 2B: Improve the documentation of Review Board findings and recommendations.

Summary of ATF Response. The ATF concurred with this recommendation and plans to revise the memorandum reports of the Review Board to include greater detail on findings and recommendations. The ATF also plans to track each Review Board recommendation individually for corrective action.

Status of Recommendation. Recommendation 2B is Resolved - Open. The actions planned by the ATF are responsive to the recommendation. We will close this recommendation when the ATF provides copies of the memoranda documenting the decisions made in the cases considered at the next meeting of the ATF Review Board.

COMMENTS ON THE FINDINGS OF THE REVIEW

The ATF provided additional information on one of the findings made in the review.

Summary of ATF Response. The ATF stated that its Shooting Incident Review Board initially considers whether the Special Agent had a reasonable belief that the suspect posed an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, but also considers the totality of the incident to determine if any of the Special Agent's actions were inappropriate.

OIG Analysis. The ATF did not find the use of deadly force to be unreasonable or impose any discipline for inappropriate actions by ATF Special Agents in any case we reviewed. Accordingly, our review could not fully evaluate the ATF's application of the standard for determining the reasonableness of the use of deadly force.