Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal law does not mandate specific qualifications for individuals appointed as U.S. Marshals. However, Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 states that U.S. Marshals should possess certain minimum characteristics in order to serve. The suggested characteristics are (1) a minimum of 4 years of command-level law enforcement management duties, including personnel, budget, and accountable property issues, in a police department, sheriff's office, or federal law enforcement agency; (2) experience in coordinating with other law enforcement agencies, particularly at the state and local levels; (3) college-level academic experience; and (4) experience in or with county, state, and federal court systems or experience with protection of court personnel, jurors, and witnesses. In contrast to the appointment process for U.S. Marshals, the senior field supervisors of other federal law enforcement agencies with comparable duties and responsibilities are selected under competitive, merit-based promotion criteria outlined in Title 5 of the U.S. Code. These individuals are required to apply and compete for these positions and meet any identified minimum standards. Minimum qualifications used to select senior field supervisors at some of the federal law enforcement agencies vary, but all require prior supervisory law enforcement experience. In April 2003, we reported on the appointment and qualifications of U.S. Marshals at which time there were no statutory provisions on the suggested minimum characteristics of U.S. Marshals. We also reported that while the average length of overall law enforcement experience of U.S. Marshals was not significantly different than that of senior field supervisors at the three selected federal law enforcement agencies, the level of government (federal, state, local, or county level) from which the experience was obtained differed. With passage of the act, Congress requested that we address the following questions (1) To what extent do the U.S. Marshals possess the four suggested minimum characteristics included in Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005? (2) To what extent are the U.S. Marshals' experience, education, race, and gender comparable to those of senior field supervisors in other federal law enforcement agencies?"
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
