Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle created an agency Monday to help combat terrorism in the state and outlined steps law-enforcement officials will take to ensure that all of Wisconsin will be protected.
“We are facing a threat unlike any our state and country have faced,” Doyle said. “Our security depends upon law-enforcement efforts that are better prepared and are better coordinated than ever before.”
This new agency will allow recent security measures implemented by the Department of Justice to be more effective.
The Division of Criminal Investigation will now have a new department, the Domestic Security Unit, which will track terrorist activity across the state and allow state agencies to communicate. The agency will also train law-enforcement officials to deal with terrorists and terrorist threats.
“One of the keys to the state’s security plan is to ensure coordination,” said Randy Romanski, a spokesman for the attorney general. “The attorney general’s goal is to work with law enforcement.”
Another part of the effort will be a task force of attorneys that can offer legal advice to state law-enforcement officials.
If officers have questions about carrying out searches, interrogation of witnesses and any hate-crime law, they can ask the attorneys.
The FBI will still play an important role in the search for possible terrorist activity in Wisconsin, but the DSU will assist them in accessing all aspects of law enforcement. Romanski stressed that the DSU will work with the FBI, not around it.
“The Domestic Security Unit will not supplant the FBI,” Romanski said. “The agency will enhance the efforts of the FBI.”
Another prominent fear since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington is bio-terrorism. Since three people have been diagnosed with anthrax in Florida, bio-terrorism, and the fear law enforcement officials are not prepared to stop it, has become a real concern across the country.
Romanski said bio-terrorism will also be examined.
Gov. McCallum set up a task force last month to directly deal with the prevention of any terrorist attacks, but Romanski said it was unrelated to Doyle’s new agency.
The attorney general’s agency will directly enforce the law and facilitate communication between departments.
In addition, the DSU will enforce the laws as they are necessary.
“President Bush has put all military and law enforcement on high alert to ensure protection of American citizens,” Doyle said. “We will continue to work with the FBI and local law enforcement to ensure ongoing communication and cooperation. We are all in this together.”
