Editorial: When the cats are away …

Saturday, April 14, 2007 | 7:26 a.m.

The 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington compelled the nation to make the fight against terrorism the top priority of many federal agencies. That meant other issues that once received more attention were demoted as manpower and other resources were shifted to make Americans safer from al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations.

The Justice Department responded by assigning at least 2,400 FBI agents to counterterrorism teams. But, as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported this week, the priority shift resulted in dramatic decreases in federal investigations of white-collar crimes and civil rights violations because those agents weren't replaced. While fighting terrorism is a matter of national security, we cannot afford to turn our backs on the con artists and hate merchants who continue to prey on our society.

The findings come as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his department have come under severe criticism in Congress for the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, including Nevada's Daniel Bogden.

At the core of the debate over these firings is whether the department is bending to political will from the White House at the cost of effective crime fighting.

Among some of the most alarming numbers dug up by the Post-Intelligencer : the FBI brought 34 percent fewer criminal cases to prosecutors in 2005 than in 2000; the agency handled more than 10,000 white-collar crime investigations in 2000 but only 3,453 in 2005; and federal agents pursued 65 percent fewer civil rights cases such as hate crimes and police abuse in 2005 than in 2000.

The drop in white-collar crime investigations is disheartening because many victims are senior citizens and the poor, individuals who often have nowhere else to turn for help. Reducing civil rights investigations puts an individual's liberties at risk, again because there is often no recourse for a victim other than assistance from federal law enforcement agencies.

The Justice Department has denied requests by the FBI to beef up its personnel to replace agents who have been assigned to counterterrorism roles. But the department owes it to victims of scams and civil rights violations to obtain the manpower necessary to investigate those crimes.