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Justice Department Report Faults INS In Crew Desertion Incident
A report from the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General says that the officer in charge of the Norfolk, Virginia INS office was responsible for errors that allowed four Pakistani nationals to leave the ship where they worked. The four men deserted after being allowed off the ship, sparking a nationwide manhunt last March. Two of the men were later arrested, but the other two remain at large.
According to the report, the inability of the INS to properly distribute new policy guidelines led to the incident. The officer, William Bittner, was never informed of a change in policy that changed the procedures for allowing crewmembers to leave their ships. Bittner claimed to have never received notice of the policy change. In fact, the Norfolk office was never given a written notice of the change. His supervisor insisted that she had mailed the notice, and that she and Bittner discussed the changes.
The report concludes that the INS needs to develop more effective methods of distributing new policies.
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