The Role Of Secret Service Explained At Citizen Police Academy

By Andrew Gorosko

At a session of Citizen Police Academy, a US Secret Service agent explained the federal agency’s various roles, describing the organization’s personal protection of the US President and Vice President, among other dignitaries, as well as its investigation of certain financial crimes, including currency counterfeiting.

Special Agent Peter Quinn spoke April 12 to about 30 participants at Citizen Police Academy at Booth Library. The police department sponsors the free program, which is intended to provide residents and local business people with an overview of local law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

Mr Quinn, who is a former Fairfield police officer, has a background in financial accounting. Both those credentials make him a suitable person for Secret Service work.

Mr Quinn described the organization’s origins in 1865, when the Secret Service was created as a unit of the Treasury Department to suppress the widespread currency counterfeiting at that time.

At the end of the Civil War, an estimated one-third of all US currency in circulation was counterfeit money, Mr Quinn said. The Secret Service’s initial role was to battle counterfeiting and thus ensure the country’s financial stability.

“We’re the sole investigating agency for counterfeit currency,” Mr Quinn said.

The agency’s role expanded following the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley.

Following the president’s death, the US Congress required the Secret Service to physically protect the President.

Since then, the organization’s personal protection activities have expanded. Currently the agency protects the President; the Vice President; those in the line of succession to the Presidency; the immediate families of the President and the Vice President; former Presidents and their spouses, for ten years after their term of office expires; the children of former Presidents, until they reach age 16; foreign heads of state and their spouses, while they area visiting the US; major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and their spouses; and the President-elect and the Vice President-elect and their spouses.

The Secret Service also provides agents for “events of national significance.”

It takes much effort and manpower to protect dignitaries, Mr Quinn said. The work requires heavy travel. Most people who are Secret Service agents have a law enforcement background, he said.

“The President of the United States is the leader of the free world, the most important person in the world,” Mr Quinn stressed.

Also, the Secret Service handles threats that are made against the people whom it protects, Mr Quinn said. Such threats are thoroughly investigated, he added.

“We take it [threats] very seriously,” he stressed.

The Secret Service monitors threats that are made on the Internet, maintaining an “Internet threat desk,” he said. The agency has a cooperative relationship with America Online and Yahoo, both of which can track the postings of their subscribers, Mr Quinn said.

Counterfeiting

A key aspect of the Secret Service’s work involves the suppression of currency counterfeiting, Mr Quinn said. The special agent explained to academy participants the tell-tale signs of counterfeit currency. Mr Quinn provided participants with a booklet explaining how Secret Service agents inspect suspected counterfeited currency to gauge whether it is genuine money.

Mr Quinn described the many physical safeguards present in US currency, which are designed to thwart counterfeiting.

“There’s no reimbursement for counterfeit currency,” he noted, explaining that those people who unknowingly hold counterfeit bills are holding valueless money. “It’s a hot potato,” he said.

Any complaints about possible counterfeit money should be directed to the local police department, after which the Secret Service may become involved in the case, depending on the circumstances, he said.

Police Sergeant Christopher Vanghele, who coordinates Citizen Police Academy, described cases in which Newtown High School students had used computer equipment to make counterfeit copies of $20 bills.

Mr Quinn cautioned academy participants against allowing debit cards to ever leave their hands when in use. Unlike credit cards, which are used to obtain credit for purchases, debit cards represent cash accounts, which are drawn down when those debit cards are used. Debit cards are not insured against abuse, as are credit cards, he said.

If a debit card leaves its owner’s hand, the card may be run through an electronic scanner by another person, providing that person with the electronic data that is needed to withdraw funds from the cash account, Mr Quinn said. He especially urged academy participants not to use debit cards at restaurants.

Mr Quinn said that people should regularly check their credit report to learn whether any fraud is occurring with their accounts.

The Secret Service agent also warned academy participants to be wary of email solicitations, such as those originating in the African country of Nigeria, which seek to bilk the recipients out of funds through scams.

The US Secret Service also investigates financial institution fraud, computer crimes, fraudulent government and commercial securities, telecommunications fraud, false identification, and identity theft, among other offenses.

The Secret Service has a lengthy hiring process, involving a thorough probing of job candidates, in seeking to find the people best suited for the work, thus making it difficult to become an agent, Mr Quinn said. Those who are hired receive extensive training in the organization’s specialties, he said.

The agency is now attached to the US Department of Homeland Security.