People who were supposed to be barred from purchasing guns were able to circumvent background checks by using law enforcement credentials and badges issued by the federal Bureau of Prisons, an inspector general said in an emergency alert Wednesday.
The bureau has been issuing badges and official credentials to doctors, dentists, chaplains and others not trained to carry guns as part of their duties.
Yet the badges suggest they’re authorized by the agency to carry firearms, letting them get guns as if they were, the Justice Department’s inspector general said.
One computer specialist was able to buy pistols using his credentials, even though the bureau expressly tagged him as “DO NOT ISSUE” — in red letters — in his BOP firearms qualification report.
Another employee failed a background check but was able to buy a pistol a year later using his bureau-issued credentials.
The audit said the BOP’s own rules about credentials are confusing, allowing people who have a role in law enforcement but are not trained or qualified for an agency-issued firearm to get credentials that, to the outside world, appear as though they are qualified.
“We found that the BOP’s policies regarding how credentials with law enforcement markings and badges may be used by BOP employees to be confusing and contradictory,” acting Inspector General William M. Blier said. “A potential consequence of this risk is the use of the improperly obtained firearm in connection with illegal conduct.”
The bureau, in its response, said it would provide more training to encourage its personnel not to misuse credentials, but dismissed the idea that there was a problem with issuing ambiguous qualifications.
“The BOP does not sanction such misuse of credentials or badges by its employees and seeks accountability through its internal disciplinary procedures and cooperation with OIG and other law enforcement agencies,” William K. Marshall III, the BOP’s director, said in the official response to the audit.
He said the badges aren’t supposed to denote authorization by the agency to carry a gun.
And he said trying to take the badges away, or to more clearly mark credentials as not firearms authorized, could hurt employees’ feelings.
It would also be a “major logistical and fiscal” hurdle.
Mr. Blier said he’s aware of incidents where employees misused their credentials and badges, but said it’s “not a nationwide problem.”
