From Quantity to Quality

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has recognized that with its limited resources it could never adequately investigate all crimes within its jurisdiction. Thus in 1975, the FBI implemented a quality over quantity concept in case workload to eliminate marginal investigations or matters not warranting Federal attention. To achieve its strategy of concentrating on quality cases, the FBI must rely on State and local police and prosecutors.

Although Justice Department policymakers clearly support the quality over quantity strategy, it has not been effectively integrated into the day-to-day operations of FBI field offices and U.S. attorneys' offices. Statistics showed that in 253 of the 467 sample cases, the FBI never attempted to coordinate with the State/local police. Also, 56 percent of the cases were closed or declined because of no Federal violation. Moreover, in the property crimes area, conflicting requirements and a lack of reliance on State/local assistance have perpetuated the heavy load of nonquality unproductive cases for the FBI. Currently, the FBI believes it should concentrate its investigations on interstate shipment thefts and interstate transportation of stolen property to quality cases over $50,000. However, U.S. attorneys have prosecutive guidelines that require FBI involvement in offenses that exceed $5,000, the amount established by law as being a Federal offense. Thus, although limiting FBI involvement in cases where Federal jurisdiction is lacking or uncertain is a readily accepted goal, it is not easily implemented.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: