Summary: The percentage of fugitive cases involving interagency coordination problems, such as interagency duplication, jurisdictional disputes, and noncooperation, does not appear to be large. Nevertheless, agency coordination problems have harmed efforts to apprehend federal fugitives. These problems involved mainly the FBI's and the U.S. Marshals Service's (1) failure to participate on each other's fugitive task forces; (2) disagreements over responsibility for prison escapes involving possible conspiracy charges; and (3) failure, at times, to cooperate when involved with the apprehension of other countries' fugitives. Officials from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service believe that these problems will be resolved as a result of (1) specific efforts by the two agencies, (2) the planning and the coordination that will be done under the Justice Department's Anti-Violent Crime Initiatives, (3) mandates from the Attorney General and their agency heads that interagency squabbles and noncooperation will not be tolerated, and (4) the establishment of the Office of Investigative Agency Policies. In addition, the U.S. Marshals Service is taking steps to resolve problems involving non-Justice agencies through direct negotiations, and, if unsuccessful, plans to ask for help from the Office of Investigative Agency Policies.
