Report: Uncertain results for federal "Impact Teams"

Friday, May 26th 2006, 11:27 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The US Justice Department inspector general says a federal program targeting violent gun crimes in nearly two dozen cities -- including Tulsa -- hasn't shown it's working.

Glenn Fine says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives makes faulty comparisons and uses insufficient data to say the Violent Crime Impact Teams are driving down violent crime.

ATF disputes the report and says the program was in its beginning stages when it was reviewed. ATF Director Carl Truscott says homicides are down by more than 8 percent in cities with the impact teams.

But Fine says auditors found erratic use of statistics and he questions why ATF looked only at homicides instead of all violent crimes committed with guns. He wants the agency to come up with a better way to assess the program.

The Justice Department selected Tulsa as one of the cities to receive the teams in 2004 after the city was identified as one with rising violent crime.