January 25, 1999
This Washington intern learned about law enforcement
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
At times it was scary, shocking and even a little boring, but one area college student certainly learned a lot about law enforcement on the federal level due to a unique fall assignment.
Casey Keckler-Yerkes, a Heidelberg College junior, has returned to campus after spending a Washington semester at American University. From Aug. 24 through Dec. 13, 1998, he assisted agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
All of his work is in anticipation of taking the ''T'' exam next year, which would determine if he is employed after college at either the Secret Service, ATF, the Internal Revenue Service or Customs Service. He hopes that his score and experience allow him to enter the career he really seeks, that of working as a Secret Service agent.
''I have always wanted to do it since the eighth grade, because it is a prestigious job,'' he said. ''With the ATF, I got involved in government policing. At times &emdash; like when you are doing street sweeps &emdash; it can be kind of boring, especially when you are just waiting at the back end of a hotel. But it is a way to give back to the country.''
Keckler-Yerkes said that the application process is difficult for such prestigious jobs, usually involving a two-year application process. He said that his experience this past semester &emdash; communicating with different government agencies and learning how the agency works &emdash; will give him an edge over other applicants.
After arriving in Washington, students had to apply to different law firms and government agencies for internship positions.
''I didn't know there were openings at the ATF until a week after I had been there,'' Keckler-Yerkes said. ''There were over 40 applicants and they were only taking three. A buddy of mine said that he thought that we should apply, and I thought it would be better than working at a law firm. It was the luck of the draw that we both got positions there, along with a female from Georgetown.''
His first days at the bureau were filled with activities designed to acclimate him to his surroundings. There were four divisions within Washington, and he was able to spend most of his time in the headquarters of the field division.
''We got a tour of the gun collection, which is bigger than the FBI's,'' he recalled of his first days there. ''We saw missiles and missile launchers, we received IDs and went over our routines and visited the explosion lab and learned some basic safety features.''
Once acclimated, Keckler-Yerkes said that the agents had more trust in the inverns and he was assigned to a detail that involved shadowing a special agent. That allowed him to receive some hands-on experiences.
''I got to follow him in the steps involved in drug busts, watch them dissemble bombs in the explosion lab and went with the arson task force to do investigations on the fire scene,'' he said.
He said drug busts are over-rated as a source of entertainment.
''They were very boring,'' he said. ''I thought we would be breaking through windows like you see on television. But you begin by surveying the area, beginning at 3:30 or 4 a.m. There are two sniper teams, one team that serves the warrant and four response teams.''
''But it takes a lot of time, you have to sit the day before and survey the location with night-vision goggles that let you see in the house so that you can estimate the number of people inside,'' he said.
Keckler-Yerkes said that it was very rewarding to him to be involved in the case after an arrest of 12 or 14 people, confiscation of 10 to 20 guns and $5,000 to $10,000 in cash.
Another of his more frequent tasks was assisting with polygraph exams.
''People are hooked up with wires everywhere,'' he said. The wires ''are to measure the amount of sweat, their breath, heart rate and blood pressure. They look like a robot with electrodes coming out of them. The interrogators ask them questions; I think that it is interesting that someone's job would be just to ask someone questions.''
He received a culture shock when helping to arrest people in areas of Washington.
''One of the neighborhoods we were in the most was Anacostia; it was one of the worst suburbs in Washington. People there have no regard for police officers' lives,'' the intern said. ''We would go there and people would be yelling obscenities at us. They have a tough job and they get no respect. I was surprised and shocked that they have no respect for police officers.''
Keckler-Yerkes said that he would recommend the semester internship program to anyone considering a career in law enforcement.
''You learn about the court system, how a warrant is ussued, how to cooperate with other agencies,'' he said. ''We were also involved in three seminars; we visited the Supreme Court and met Clarence Thomas, met Madeline Albright and studied from textbooks on different issues, such as civil rights and liberties and the death penalty. And the authors of those books would come in and speak to the class; it was helpful to speak to the person himself or herself.''
One of the most rewarding aspects of his internship involved Project Exile, enacted by the ATF and DEA agencies several years ago.
''It's a more restricting gun-control law,'' he said. ''In cities with high crime rates, such as Richmond, Norfolk and Washington, if someone is arrested in any crime with a handgun, they receive an automatic five-year sentence.''
And, according to Keckler-Yerkes' research on the crime statistics, ''during the last three years the crime rates have gone down.''
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