Upon his arrival--which may be several months from the time of his selection-the Specialist goes through an orientation period, becoming familiar with his environment and making arrangements for any other materials or support he may require. During this time, the Specialist may have to complete cases carried over from his previous position. In certain instances, the Specialist has taken the state bar examination or done some minor casework to obtain court exposure, thereby gaining acceptance within the Federal judiciary. This also gives him some time to become known in the OUSA and within the enforcement community. Once settled in the OUSA, the Specialist is prepared to begin implementing the ECE program. Accumulate and Analyze Data. The Specialist's first objective in implementing the program is to obtain an overall picture of his district, the nature and scope of its white-collar crime problem, and the resources available to combat this problem. To complete this undertaking, the Specialist obtains: from investigating agencies, an inventory of active white-collar crime cases; from prosecutors, data on the impact and magnitude of pending and closed cases; and from various business organizations, consumer groups and State agencies, demographic information, statistical data on economic conditions, and perceptions of the areas in white-collar crime problems. This research effort is accomplished at the discretion of the Specialist and may involve interviews, survey questionnaires developed by each Specialist, and an analysis of relevant reports, caseloads of the OUSA, and record systems of various agencies, e.g., investigative files. This endeavor indicates the nature and scope of the district's white-collar crime problem, forms the basis upon which district priorities are selected, and introduces the program and the Specialist to. the business and enforcement communities. This activity, which is estimated to take six months, culminates in the submission of a district report to OECE. Communicate with the District. After the Specialist has acquired an understanding of the nature of his district's problem, he is prepared to adapt program features which best address those problems, and to explain to the various enforcement and interest organizations how the program is expected to benefit them. This liaison role and function of the Specialist is a key factor in achieving the objectives of maximizing the efficient use of law enforcement and prosecutorial resources in combatting white-collar crime. The Specialist generally begins with the Federal enforcement agencies as a promoter for the program; he creates an interest, on the part of the agents, in participating in the program and encourages them to bring the OUSA potential criminal matters which they believe merit a joint investigator/prosecutor effort. When cases are brought to the attention of the Specialist, he reviews them, and in many instances, gives the agent his detailed analysis, suggesting how the case can be made stronger and/or more complete, by gathering more or different types of information, linking existing evidence or utilizing different methods of obtaining evidence. This is also the stage in which the Specialist can begin to expand the agent's awareness of other avenues of pursuit, either civil or administrative remedies, to address activities which do not warrant criminal prosecution. As the agent's understanding increases, the leads developed and cases brought to the OUSA should be stronger, and the Specialist should begin to coordinate specific case efforts, thus moving into the third phase of implementation. 'hile coordinating Federal investigative efforts, the Specialist should continue to expand his activities within his district. The study team found that this expansion is generally conceived to include: State and local investigative and prosecutive offices: to foster an Interest and advisory groups: to utilize most effectively resources to develop and disseminate information concerning white-collar crime; and Professional and business organizations and the general public: to increase their awareness of the magnitude of the white-collar crime problem and to educate them as to methods of preventing and detecting possible criminal activities. Once this effort is complete, it is expected that the Specialist would expand his efforts into other districts in his region. (The Specialist's role in other districts is discussed in detail in Chapter IV.) Coordinate Efforts. This phase marks the beginning of the Specialist's case specific activities. Once a specific criminal activity has been targeted, the Specialist (and/or an ECE Unit AUSA) and the agents must develop a strategy which will result in the apprehension of the most significant criminal offenders and the strongest possible prosecution. This often requires the assistance of a multiplicity of investigative agencies to develop different angles to the case under the various criminal statutes they have traditionally investigated. Combining investigative resources brings together differing expertise and expands the scope of possible techniques that may be employed. It also provides an informal cross-training procedure, which results in the agents being able to recognize areas where another's skills or expertise would benefit an investigation. The Specialist's role in these large complex cases is to provide guidance for the investigative efforts. He assists in the selection of the major path of the investigation and identifies "spin-off" cases to be further investigated by new teams or prosecuted by Unit AUSAs. In the main investigation, the Specialist also acts as a mediator between conflicting interests, when they arise, thus preserving the coordinative efforts. At the completion of the investigation, the Specialist should have a solid, well-planned case, against significant criminal offenders or activities ready for prosecution. Prosecution of Significant White-Collar Cases: The prosecutorial work of the ECE unit involves a departure from the traditional, reactive approach to a more proactive approach, focusing on major/complex cases. Insofar as this shift requires a period of transition, during which the Specialist lays the foundation for achieving the program's prosecutorial goals, the prosecution of major white-collar crime cases is generally viewed as a second year objective. This is based on the expectation that in the first year, the unit will an effective working relationship with the appropriate agencies; establish: a sound, reliable information system for district priorities; a policy for determining what is a major case; and will have available, experienced AUSAS to prosecute those major white-collar crime cases. When the program reaches this stage--and a case, developed with the investigative agencies through the Specialists efforts, it is ready for prosecution--the Specialist, because of his substantial involvement in the investigation, should, in most instances, participate in the litigation. This role could be that of the lead attorney, co-counsel, or an advisor/director. His participation should be premised on some notion of case significance, be it: the prominence or culpability of the offender, the complexity, uniqueness or cost of the criminal activity, the uniqueness of the prosecutive approach, or the necessity of maintaining the investigative agencies' confidence in the program. UNIT ACHIEVEMENTS Each of the seven units surveyed demonstrated significant achievements of program objectives. In reporting these achievements, it was the position of the study team that, since the seven units were still in various stages of program implementation, it would be better to report accomplishments in an aggregate manner to avoid unit-by-unit comparisons that might not adequately account for the important differences of each unit, or represent the individual characteristics, needs and conditions of each unit from which program objectives were accomplished. Due to the flexible and adaptable nature of the program, the individuality of each OUSA, and the scope of the study, it is not possible to report these achievements in measurable terms of significance. For example, the environment in one Federal district would make the |