LEAA Provides Fund for Arson Courses
Features
Financial assistance to state and local governments for arson investigation and prosecution is made available in an agreement between the United States Fire Administration (USFA) and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA).
Because the USFA has, as the agreement states, “primary responsibility in fire investigation training,” LEAA will transfer $500,000 to the fire administration to expand training in the detection, investigation and prosecution of arson. In this way, LEAA will support and encourage the use of USFA arson investigation training courses.
In addition, LEAA will help the USFA provide technical assistance in the formation of arson policy level task forces and to develop a handbook on that subject. In Seattle, the arson policy task force was a key factor in cutting arson losses from $3.2 million to $1.6 million in two years. The arson policy task force includes businessmen, bankers, insurance agents, housing directors and city council representatives, as well as fire and law enforcement personnel.
Investigation course
With LEAA support, the National Fire Academy (NFA) two-week arson investigation course will be presented in each of the 10 federal regions, as well as at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., during the next 12 months. This course, designed for fire and police personnel who have arson investigation responsibilities, already has been given 14 times to a total of 500 persons.
With LEAA support, the NFA has also developed an arson course for prosecutors in cooperation with the National College for District Attorneys.
Another USFA training initiative is a Los Angeles program directed toward juvenile fire-setting which reduced the incidence of juvenile-set fires from 169 to 20 in one year. This program is being packaged for national dissemination.
The Center for Fire Research, National Bureau of Standards, is conducting studies on psychologically motivated arson to improve prevention and control methods.
The National Fire Data Center, through its national fire incident reporting system, is collecting data on the number and location of incendiary fires, as well as the dollar loss. This information, when combined with the data compiled by the FBI on arson occurrences, arrests and convictions, will give a more complete picture of the incendiary problem in the United States.
Program for the public
The USFA was directed by statute last year to develop programs for public arson education. The fire administration is currently compiling examples of successful public arson education programs and will make these available to state and local agencies through its Arson Resource Center, which has over 500 documents, books and slide tapes on the subject. The USFA is publishing an Arson Resource Exchange Bulletin to promote communication of new antiarson methods and information.
The USFA Office of Planning and Education is working closely with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to focus resources in community anti-crime programs aimed at arson prevention and control. With the Federal Insurance Administration, a model program which combines economic revitalization with vigorous arson investigation and prosecution is being planned.
The USFA also was mandated by law last year to prepare a report to Congress on the federal role in assisting state and local jurisdictions in arson prevention and control. The recommendations for attacking the arson problem fall into four major areas:
- Increasing criminal risk through investigation and prosecution of arson,
- Removing the economic incentive to arson,
- Dealing with the psychologically motivated arsonist and
- Improving the management of anti-arson programs.
To increase the criminal risk, training must be improved and made available at state and local levels. Frequently, cases are lost in court due to mishandling of evidence or failure to follow standard procedures.
Standards of forensic analysis and arson evidence processing must be established so that fire investigators can operate within the framework which will insure admissibility of evidence.
Important to increasing actual risk is to increase the perception of risk in the eye of both the amateur arsonist and the professional torch. This can be accomplished through public arson education efforts that make the public aware of the problem and provide mechanisms for the communities to monitor arson activities and to report them to authorities. Publicity about the successful convictions, prosecutions and investigations puts the arsonist on notice that it is highly likely he will be apprehended. This has cut arson rates in Seattle, Boston, Dallas, and Denver, among others.
Insurance industry can help
The insurance industry can play a major prevention role since companies who are known to be tough on arson find that arsonists move to softer insurance companies. A good example of this was when intensive prosecution on the part of the Massachusetts FAIR Plan resulted in a decrease in arson-related payments from 40 percent of all claims paid to 12 percent.
In the economics area, incentives to arson in current practices, laws and policies affecting the insurance, banking, housing and commercial industries must be removed. Recommendations in this area are being reviewed at this time with the private sector and state and local government officials. To date, the cooperation from the insurance industry in developing recommendations for modification of underwriting and claims practices to remove economic incentives to arson has been excellent.
In the behavioral area, programs on children with matches must be disseminated. Communities with juvenile firesetting problems must receive training in the successful models which reduced juvenile firesetting in Los Angeles and Upper Arlington, Ohio. Prosecutors and fire service personnel must learn how to handle revenge arson fires.
Arson is primarily a local problem. However, the economic incentives, the criminals’ operations and the magnitude of the problem extend beyond municipal boundaries. Only through coordinated effort by Congress, federal agencies, state agencies and local agencies can arson be reduced.
