90 Federal Law Enforcement Agencies?

After the Department Of Education shotgun fun, I discovered that there are now 90 Federal law enforcement agencies.

Ninety

Ninety agencies to enforce (with guns) Federal laws.

What are some of the agencies that require armed agents?

National Institute of Standards and Technology

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Institutes of Health

Department of Education

Food and Drug Administration

Department of Labor

Federal Aviation Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Library of Congress

Tennessee Valley Authority

Smithsonian Institution

Small Business Administration

Railroad Retirement Board

Office of Personnel Management

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Government Printing Office

General Services Administration

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Amtrak

Environmental Protection Agency

Those are just the ones that I thought were blatantly stupid. Apparently EVERY federal agency has armed agents now. Can you say “Police State”?

What the heck does the Printing office need armed agents for? Does the Railroad retirement board need armed agents to deal with retirees? Does the Library of Congress need agents to collect library fines?

What the hell?

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12 Responses to 90 Federal Law Enforcement Agencies?

  1. bluesun says:

    Which one do you think is the most prestigious? Who has the cream of the crop? By which I mean, which one attracts the best people? By which I really mean, how many cop academies do you have to flunk out of to get accepted as an agent for the TVA?

  2. joe says:

    NIST? What, they come for you if you use a non-calibrated ruler?

  3. Old NFO says:

    Sigh… Australia is looking better and better…

  4. Joe says:

    A few I can actually understand. The Smithsonian probably needs guards to keep people from trying to make off with some of the art treasures. And Amtrak might need one or two cops on some of their trains, which aren’t always in a good place to just stop and call the local police. (The same might have applied to the FAA, except that air marshals are part of the TSA instead.) I agree, though that most of the others don’t make any sense

  5. roadkill says:

    Yeah, some of this might just be site security rather than people that come to your house and jack you up. Hell, some of this could be for executive security too. Gotta make sure the proles don’t get close to the elite class.

  6. Tarb says:

    Old NFO, mate, you don’t want to come down here. I think you got a taste of it on your visit earlier. The cops and feds get to have all the guns, and your average citizen has to fight tooth and nail for even the mildest of boomsticks. Trust me, even if you do have the most insignificant and peculiar government deptartments packing .50 cals and shotguns, at least you have the option of buying a shitload of your own to play with.
    (Sorry for spouting off in your comments, Alan. Yeah yeah, I can move, I know).

  7. The Library of Congress does carry some valuable works that people would like to and do occasionally ‘collect’ They have to serve warrants to retrieve the items.

    But seriously, NOAA???? What are they afraid some flat earther is gonna raid your local weather service office?

  8. Stretch says:

    And there are lots of openings in all those departments: http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/search.aspx?q=police&where=20170&x=0&y=0&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&pg=1&rad=20&rad_units=miles&re=0

    I was a Federal Protective Officer 25 years ago. Was then under General Services Administration and had full police power on all GSA owned and controlled property. Now under TSA (God help them) they have been reduced to “physical security specialists.” Most Federal agencies have law enforcement arms due to:
    1) ego and empire building. “I designed the unit patch myself!”
    2) budget, US Marshals just don’t have the manpower to support all the demands other agencies would place on it. Of course if all the agencies were to dump their forces and give that money to the Marshals … Never mind, that’s never gonna happen.
    3) Disjointed, non-unified, bickering, competitive Federal agencies are a good thing for all citizens.

  9. Pingback: SayUncle » The number of federal law enforcement agencies

  10. mariner says:

    “3) Disjointed, non-unified, bickering, competitive Federal agencies are a good thing for all citizens.”

    Not really. Two things they all agree on is that they are better than we, and that they should have firearms and we should not.

  11. Jake says:

    I would guess most of these are for fraud investigation just like the Dept. of Ed – anytime there’s money involved, there will be fraud. And just like with the DoE, it should be something that gets passed to the FBI or the Marshal Service for investigation. Amtrak security should be under the TSA, just like airlines (it is transportation, after all).

    Some I assume are for on-site security in a context that makes sense, like the Smithsonian – they need police powers to make arrests, and the Smithsonian is large enough that it makes more sense to give the security guards police powers than for them to have to call an outside agency every time someone is caught shoplifting from one of the gift shops. It should really be a limited authority, though. Leave embezzlement/fraud/felony type investigations to dedicated law enforcement agencies.

    Others, though, have duties I would concede are better handled internally. For instance, NASA deals with a lot of classified projects and hardware (spy satellites, for example). When dealing with classified information, it’s better to limit access to the information, and to keep it within the organization as much as possible.

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