National Law Enforcement Museum and Target® Present Witness to History: The ATF Raid at Waco

The National Law Enforcement Museum hosted the sixth event in its Witness to History panel discussion series, held at the Pew Charitable Trusts Building in Washington, DC, and sponsored by Target®. The event marked the first time that agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—on the ground when the 50-day raid began in Waco, Texas, on February 28, 1993—have spoken publicly about their role in this tragic case.

“We were honored to host yet another successful Witness to History event as part of our continuing series,” said National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chairman & CEO Craig Floyd, who moderated the panel discussion. “Our excellent panel provided valuable insight, and each panelist shared his unique perspective on this seminal moment in law enforcement history.”

Panel discussion included expert analysis and firsthand accounts from Bill Buford, ATF (ret.) Resident Agent in Charge, Little Rock Field Office; Pete Mastin, ATF (ret.) Special Agent in Charge, New Orleans Field Division; Jerry Petrilli, ATF (ret.) Resident Agent in Charge, Albuquerque Field Office; and Dick Reavis, author of The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation. A Q&A session allowed audience members to interact with the panelists at the end of the discussion.

Acting ATF Director, B. Todd Jones, was also in attendance and shared his thoughts on the events at Waco to open up the Q&A portion of the program. “This was the biggest gunfight involving federal law enforcement in the history of America,” he said. “The men who were there that day were all heroes, in my mind.”

Each of the agents on the panel shared insight into what they felt went wrong, as well as how ATF has improved operations as a result of what happened at Waco. According to Mr. Buford, “One thing that came as a result of Waco, was a strong contingency plan. We have that for every operation we run now.”

Witness to History: The ATF Raid at Waco was open to the public, with about 150 guests in attendance.  For more information about the National Law Enforcement Museum’s Witness to History program, visit www.LawEnforcementMuseum.org/WitnesstoHistory.

Secret Service Artifacts, Photos, & More on Display at National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Visitors Center & Store

Exhibit on Display January 16-February 15, 2013

In honor of the 57th Presidential Inauguration this year in Washington, DC, the National Law Enforcement Museum will feature a special temporary exhibit beginning Wednesday, January 16, at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Visitors Center & Store (located 400 7th Street NW at the corner of 7th & D Streets NW).

In this exhibit you will find rare Inaugural badges from the Museum’s collection along with some Secret Service gear, on loan from the agency. You'll also find lots of visitors picking up their commemorative inaugural badges, pins and coins in addition to other Memorial Fund gifts.

Stop by to learn about two of the agencies responsible for protecting the President on Inauguration Day—the United States Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC.

Inauguration Day Facts

While Museum staff prepared for the Inaugural exhibit, currently on display at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Visitors Center & Store, we learned a few interesting facts about one of the most memorable parts of Inauguration Day: the parade down DC’s Pennsylvania Avenue.

1944 Inaugural parade (President Franklin D. Roosevelt)

What do you know about this festive tradition?

1957 Inaugural parade (President Dwight D. Eisenhower)

Did you know ... ?

• The first Inaugural parade to take place in the new capital city of Washington was during Thomas Jefferson's first Inauguration in 1801.

• President Woodrow Wilson’s second Inaugural parade (1917) was the first to include women.

• Today, law enforcement personnel stand shoulder to shoulder along the parade route, when they used to stand at least 20 feet apart from one another.

2009 Inaugural parade (President Barack Obama)

• Both military personnel and law enforcement officials line the Inaugural parade route for protection.

• During the parade, military personnel face the president while law enforcement faces the people.

Learn more about the history of the Inaugural parade.

10 New Year's Resolutions Law Enforcement Thinks You Should Keep

A (satirical) list of resolutions to live by in 2013.

1. I will improve my artistic abilities in the New Year, but will not do so by painting obscene words on the sides of public buildings and traffic signs.
   
   
2. If pulled over for a traffic violation, I will not ask the trooper if s/he knows this other trooper I’ve met in the past whose name I can’t recall.
   
   
3. I will not ask a deputy for directions and then disagree with the directions given because the GPS says otherwise.
   
   
4. I will not walk up to officers who are eating and proceed to ask them if they are eating.
   
   
5. I will lose weight this year, but will not attempt to do so by running from the cops.
   
   
6. I resolve to spend more time with my family and friends. Being in jail together does not count.
   
   
7. I will be more punctual, but won't use patrol cars with sirens as my personal escorts.
   
   
8. I resolve to never tell a deputy/officer that I pay his or her salary.
   
   
9. If I see a police officer at Dunkin’ Donuts, I will not laugh out loud. Only on the inside.
   
   
10. I will stop pretending to "understand the law" because I watch a lot of Law & Order.

Thank you to Officer Eric Bohrer, Inver Grove Heights (MN) Police Department & Marshal Bill Swank, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Air Marshal Service, Cleveland Field Office for helping with this list.

Service to Country, Service to Community

Visit any sheriff’s office, police department, or federal law enforcement agency today and you are bound to meet men and women who are veterans from our most recent wars. This overlapping tradition of service has been a part of law enforcement since the very beginning. Law enforcement officers have served in every war since the American Revolution, and some veterans from every war have gone on to serve in law enforcement.

The two types of service have a number of similarities and also some major differences. Service to a larger cause, whether country or community, might be the single most important point of connection, but there are many others. In the sixth edition of Character and Cops, Edwin J. Delattre quotes extensively from a letter written by Deputy Chief Paul Ciesinski of the Hartford (CT) Police Department about his experience as a law enforcement officer and as an infantry brigade commander in Iraq in 2005-2006. Ciesinski noted that one of the benefits police officers have in the military is that they are “emotionally tolerant of the idea that other people will try to hurt and kill them.” His law enforcement training in the use of force was both a detriment and a benefit to him in Iraq. “I had to suppress use-of-force rules I learned and internalized for a decade and a half as a police officer…[but] it was a benefit because the type of war we were fighting, a counterinsurgency, inherently called for restraint in the use of force compared to other types of war.”

This November as our nation honors and remembers the veterans of all our wars, the National Law Enforcement Museum would like to hear from the many law enforcement officers who have also served in the military. Tell us your story in the "Post a Comment" section below.

To start you off, here’s the story of a veteran who fought for his country 150 years ago and who went on to a distinguished career in law enforcement.

Webber Seavey

Webber Seavey was a Nebraska native who enlisted in the Army at the start of the Civil War when he was 20 years old. He was assigned to Company H, 5th Iowa Cavalry and served with the 5th through the entire four years of the war. Seavey and his regiment joined the many other Westerners who marched with U.S. General William T. Sherman through Georgia. He participated in numerous skirmishes and battles and escaped from Confederate Prisons (one of which was the infamous Andersonville) twice. During those four years, he was gradually promoted from the rank of private to captain.

After the war, Seavey traveled the world and made his fortune, finally returning to his native Nebraska in the 1880s. In 1887, he was appointed Chief of the Omaha Police Department.

This pamphlet published by Seavey in 1910 describes his
allegiances to both military and law enforcement. 
Library of Congress

Seavey went on to create one of the most professional police forces in the western United States. Many of Seavey’s ideas were ahead of his time, including the establishment of a public fund to help the families of officers wounded or killed on the job. Seavey was also the driving force behind the establishment of the National Chiefs of Police Union, today known as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). He sent letters to thousands of police chiefs inviting them to Chicago for a meeting during the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Fittingly, Seavey was elected the first president of what would become the IACP and the association’s annual award for innovative policing practices still bears his name today.

Third Annual National Law Enforcement Museum Gala

Since the National Law Enforcement Museum’s Groundbreaking in October 2010, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund has hosted a Gala each year to raise awareness and funds for the Museum. This year’s Gala, held on October 12 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, focused on an exhibit slated for the Museum called Reel to Real that will highlight Hollywood’s portrayal of policing compared to real-life law enforcement. 

Given the theme, it was only fitting to have Richard Belzer of Law & Order: SVU fame emcee the event. Mr. Belzer spoke sincerely about his admiration for the men and women of law enforcement and the sacrifices they make for our safety.

Though solemn in his welcoming remarks, he later sprinkled in some good-natured irreverence in true Belzer style during a bit with Montgomery County (MD) Police Chief Tom Manger, in which he introduced himself as New York City Police Detective John Munch and coyly offered “salary” as one of the differences between “reel” and “real” police work. Chief Manger jokingly fired back another difference as a nod to Hollywood’s propensity for plastic surgery—“real” police do a lot of work and “reel” police get a lot of work done.

The Gala, sponsored by A&E, BAE Systems, and the Police Unity Tour, among others, was teeming with fun and captivating video clips, poignant remarks, and rousing musical tributes and performances [by United States Park Police Honor Guard; LaPorte (IN) Police Det. Brian Phillips; and Port Authority of NY & NJ Police Department Pipes & Drums Pipe Major Steve Butterbrodt and Metropolitan DC Police Officer Chris Jackson (ret.)].

The Gala also featured a very exciting announcement. National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chairman & CEO Craig Floyd updated guests on the latest in Museum progress, announcing a landmark gift from Motorola Solutions, Inc. and Motorola Solutions Foundation for $15 million, in addition to their earlier $3 million donation to benefit the Museum and sponsor the 911 Mission Critical Communications Center.

Gala dinner chair, Motorola Solutions Chairman & CEO Greg Brown, recalled the long and rich tradition of law enforcement in this nation and the promising future ahead, highlighting Motorola’s continued involvement with the Memorial and Museum—both deeply special to their corporation.

Philadelphia (PA) Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey delivered inspiring keynote remarks after a heartfelt introduction from Shirley Gibson, former National President of Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS)—a survivor herself, who said Ramsey befriended her when he was Chief of Police in DC, soon after her son was killed in the line of duty. Commissioner Ramsey stressed the importance of the Museum in preserving the history and legacy of law enforcement service. The beloved former DC Chief received a standing ovation at the close of his remarks.

The Gala—at once touching, informative, thrilling, and playful—gave guests a taste of what’s to come when the one-of-a-kind Museum opens in 2015.

Check out more photos from the Gala here.

Witness to History: Washington, DC-area Sniper Attacks, 10 Years Later

Last evening, the National Law Enforcement Museum’s Witness to History panel discussion series re-examined the 2002 Washington, DC-area sniper case 10 years later. Panel members included Chief Charles Deane, Prince William County (VA) Police Department; Mr. Josh White, investigative reporter for The Washington Post; Chief Charles Moose (ret.), Montgomery County (MD) Police Department; and Lieutenant David Reichenbaugh (ret.), Maryland State Police.

As many of us recall vividly, for three weeks in October 2002, the DC metropolitan area lived in fear of what was believed to be a single serial sniper who killed 10 people and wounded others in a series of random shootings in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Ultimately, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were convicted of several of those murders. Investigating and arresting the two perpetrators, who came to be known as “The Beltway Snipers,” involved hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple local jurisdictions, as well as agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the U.S. Secret Service; and the Virginia Department of Transportation. Representatives from these agencies were in attendance at last night's event, along with two surviving family members and a victim of the sniper attacks. Additionally, pieces of evidence from the DC Sniper Task Force—now part of the Museum's collection—were on display, including bullets, tarot card, and letters left by the snipers for police.



Sponsored by Target® and held in the Pew Charitable Trusts Building in Washington, DC, Witness to History: Washington, DC-Area Sniper Attacks, 10 Years Later shed light on a case that involved one of the biggest manhunts in recent history and required the complicated coordination of multiple law enforcement agencies under intense media scrutiny and a barrage of misinformation, rumor, speculation, and criticism. The panel discussion, moderated by National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chairman & CEO, Craig W. Floyd, presented expert analysis and firsthand accounts from those closely tied to the investigation. A Q&A session allowed audience members to interact with the panelists at the end of the discussion.

As the public face of the investigation, Chief Moose discussed his strategy for informing the public throughout the investigation, explaining why he held press conferences every four hours. “We insisted on maximum disclosure with minimum delay even when there wasn’t much to report,” said Chief Moose.

“We didn’t know whether this was a 9/11 situation or an anger issue targeted at specific individuals,” said Lieutenant Reichenbaugh. All the panelists stressed the teamwork needed to solve the case. “We worked closely together and shared information with other jurisdictions,” said Chief Deane.

Representing the media, which played a major role in the investigation and trial, Josh White described the news room at the time as "bedlam." He described the attacks as "scary, unexplained, and continuing," and went on to say that it was the "scariest thing this country has seen outside of an organized terrorist attack."

This public event was the fifth in the Museum’s Witness to History series, which focuses on significant events in law enforcement history that shaped regional and national identity, told through narratives and accounts from those involved. Stay tuned for more events to come.

For more information about the National Law Enforcement Museum’s Witness to History program, visit www.LawEnforcementMuseum.org/WitnesstoHistory.