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Corps to boost criminal investigator numbers

Some types of crime that once went relatively ignored will get a closer look as the Corps lays plans to beef up the Criminal Investigations Division at bases worldwide.

After being shut down and left dormant for several years, the CID — the Corps’ equivalent of police detectives — returned in 2004 with limited staffing.

But CID is slated to nearly double in size during the next few years, adding civilian investigators for the first time and allowing lateral moves for sergeants of all military occupational specialties.

That means more agents to investigate crimes against Marines at home, and help train Iraqi police when deployed.

“We need this capability,” said Chief Warrant Officer Angel Cruz, the Pentagon-based CID chief. “Right now, we’re just trying to get our numbers up so we can meet our responsibilities.”

Marines may see a greater focus on petty crimes and quality-of-life problems.

“The guys this is really going to affect are the young corporals and lance corporals who get their windows kicked in,” Cruz said. “For a long time, we didn’t have time to do it, so we’d just say ‘We’ll get to it when we can.’”

The CID’s responsibilities have shifted a lot over the years. Most of the serious crimes committed by Marines or on Marine bases are investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Nevertheless, CID investigates hundreds of felony-level cases each year, as well as lesser crimes such as marijuana possession and domestic abuse.

A decade ago, the CID had about 300 agents worldwide. But in 1999, senior officials shut down the network of offices at Marine bases and merged them into NCIS. Commanders later complained that enforcement was lax and they were unable to fully pursue disciplinary matters.

“It created a gap,” said Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Ponte, who heads the Corps’ CID office in Quantico, Va.

Commanders had few resources to investigate matters that NCIS chose not to pursue, such as minor drug possession, low-level assaults, domestic violence or small-scale theft. Without investigators, commanders sometimes were unable to pursue an Article 32 investigation or other form of disciplinary action.

“The small sort of cases that needed to be investigated weren’t getting investigated,” Cruz said. “It would just be an MP report rather than an independent investigation.”

In 2004, Marine Corps headquarters re-established the CID. There were only a few dozen Marine agents left on active duty with MOS 5821, or Criminal Investigator/CID Agent. Those NCOs and warrant officers had been working at NCIS.

Rebuilding has been a challenge.

“Losing that structure, you lose a lot of knowledge. We had to ask: Who’s going to train the next generation of CID agents?” said Master Sgt. Clayton Smith, a senior investigator with CID at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

During the past few years, the CID has grown from about 54 agents to its current staff of 128. Headquarters has authorized 235 slots for Marine investigators Corpswide, and Cruz said he hopes to reach that capacity in the next few years, partly by encouraging eligible sergeants to move into the MOS.

The Corps also plans to begin hiring civilian investigators to work at domestic installations. The civilians, once hired and schooled at the U.S. Army Apprentice Special Agent Course, will perform the same tasks as uniformed Marines. The Corps is the only service branch that does not employ civilian investigators.

Handing off law-enforcement duties to civilian authorities isn’t new. This year, the Corps plans to hire 400 civilian police officers, and up to 1,500 during the next few years, who will take over tasks previously assigned to the military police.

As with the MPs, hiring civilian investigators will free up more Marines to deploy to Iraq, where CID agents investigate criminal activity among Iraqis and prepare cases for prosecution in the Iraqi court system. CID currently has at least 10 agents manning offices based at Camp Fallujah and Al Asad Airbase.

Civilian agents could spend a career at one base.

“Another positive thing is the continuity, … they can grow the relationship with local law enforcement,” Cruz said.

Agents say they hope that larger staffs will allow them to step up their enforcement efforts, identifying trends in criminal activity and take preventive action.

“When you’re so short-staffed, it’s hard to be anything other than reactive,” Smith said. Smith recalled a recent assignment at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where a rash of car break-ins prompted his agents to set up a surveillance operation that led to a dramatic drop in those thefts.

Cruz said he hopes to build up the staff before Marines and their commanders get frustrated with CID’s limited capabilities.

“Once you go to a place and ask for help two or three times and you don’t get any help, you’re going to say, ‘Why do I keep going over there?’”