National Church Arson Task Force releases report
The National Church Arson Task Force has “achieved considerable success,” according to its First Year Report, submitted to President Clinton early in June. Among the accomplishments noted in the document are the following:
The Task Force opened 429 investigations into arsons, bombings, or attempted bombings that have occurred at houses of worship between January 1, 1995, and May 27, 1997.
Federal, state, and local authorities have arrested 199 suspects since January 1995, in connection with 150 of the 429 investigations.
Thirty-five percent of the church arsons were solved; the rate of arrests in Task Force cases is more than double the 16 percent rate for arsons in general.
Federal and state prosecutors have successfully convicted 110 individuals in connection with fires at 77 houses of worship.
Twenty-five houses of worship have been rebuilt; 65 are undergoing construction.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is administering a $10 million Federal Loan Guarantee Fund, established by Congress as part of the 1996 Church Arson Prevention Act, to assist with the rebuilding effort.
Prevention
The Task Force, noting that prevention efforts continue across the nation, cited the following initiatives aimed at prevention:
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $3 million in grants to counties in 13 states to intensify their enforcement and surveillance efforts around vulnerable houses of worship. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded about $1.5 million in arson prevention and training grants.
FEMA established a Clearinghouse (1-888-603-3100, toll-free) for arson prevention resources, which has received more than 15,000 telephone inquiries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
FEMA has distributed more than 500,000 arson prevention packets, including the “Task Force Church Threat Assessment Guide.”
FEMA initiated pilot projects, involving the development of grassroots arson prevention programs, in Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; Macon, Georgia; and Utica, New York.
Preliminary Conclusions
Although most of the fires are still under investigation, the Task Force has offered the following preliminary conclusions on the bases of the charges filed and the convictions obtained so far:
The arsons–at both African American and other houses of worship–were motivated by a wide array of factors, including not only blatant racism or religious hatred but also financial profit, burglary, and personal revenge.
So far, the cases closed and the charges that have been filed do not support the theory that these fires were the product of a nationwide conspiracy.
Most of the defendants were not found to be members of hate groups.
The Task Force was formed by President Clinton in June 1996 in response to a significant increase in the number of reported attacks on houses of worship, especially African American churches in the South. Federal law enforcement made the investigation of these fires a top priority. Task Force leaders were James E. Johnson, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, for Enforcement, and Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, for Civil Rights; she replaced Deval L. Patrick, former Assistant Attorney General. The Task Force formalized the coordination of investigations already underway and brought together the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Justice Department prosecutors; United States attorneys; victim/witness coordinators; the Community Relations Service; and the U.S. Marshals Service, in partnership with state and local officers and prosecutors.
