TBI DIRECTOR SEEKS MONEY TO MEET GROWING RESPONSIBILITIES

The TBI needs improvements of almost $4 million to investigate
methamphetamine labs, expand its forensic services, and hire criminal
intelligence agents who would combat terrorism, the agency's director told
state lawmakers yesterday.

Larry Wallace, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said he
is well aware of the reported shortfall in state tax collections but said
that he would be shirking his responsibilities if he did not ask for what
his agency needs.

He said the TBI provides support to prosecutors and law enforcement
agencies statewide.

''If we have to go into this arena of major cuts, it would cause complete
turmoil in the criminal justice system in this state,'' he said.

Wallace told the House Finance Committee the clandestine manufacture of
methamphetamine had become a serious problem in Tennessee for civilians and
law enforcement officers.

Wallace is requesting nine additional agents for the TBI drug division,
which he said is ''currently neither sufficiently equipped nor staffed to
effectively deal with this problem.'' That would bring the number of agents
in the division to 51.

Wallace presented to the committee a chart showing the number of meth labs
seized in Tennessee had risen from 102 in 1999 to 353 last year.

''The success of the additional personnel will be measured not only by
additional arrests and cases, but also in seizures of contraband and the
forfeiture of money acquired through, and used for, illegal drug
trafficking enterprises,'' he said in his budget request.

Wallace is seeking funding for 22 positions for forensic services across
the state.

The agency's Forensic Services Division provides analysis of biological and
physical evidence in such areas as drug chemistry, toxicology, latent
fingerprint examination and firearms identification.

The Forensic Services Division has received no personnel increases since
1989, but the number of toxicology related cases has jumped by 71.6% in
that same period, he said.

Wallace is asking for eight more criminal intelligence agents and six
analysts, saying September's attack on the World Trade Center in New York
has had a profound' effect on the TBI's Criminal Intelligence Unit.

The unit needs designated agents and analysts whose primary responsibility
would be to focus on terrorism, he said.

In addition to terrorists from foreign countries, the agents would focus on
domestic terrorists, such as hate groups, criminal gangs with indications
of potential mass violence and individuals who may harbor thoughts of mass
destruction, he said.

Tennessee's rural landscape and the distance between law enforcement
agencies may make the state a place where fugitives involved in
international terrorism want to hide, he said.