Criminal in arms: More Army recruits have records
June 19, 2006

BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter





As the Army faces pressure to keep up recruiting levels during the Iraq war, it increasingly has allowed in recruits convicted of misdemeanor crimes, according to experts and military records.

The Army is screening applicants more closely than ever, requiring a national electronic fingerprint check for every applicant and searching sex offender databases, officials say.

Still, the percentage of recruits entering the Army with waivers for misdemeanors and medical problems has more than doubled since 2001, according to records provided by the Army under a Freedom of Information Act request.


WHO WON'T GET A WAIVER







The Army won't issue a "moral waiver" if an applicant:
*Has more than one adult felony offense.
*Has more than four misdemeanor convictions.
*Was convicted of trafficking or distributing drugs.
*Was convicted of any sexually violent offense such as rape, forcible sodomy.
*Was convicted of domestic violence under certain provisions of the law.
SOURCE: U.S. Army




Moral waivers granted



A study of people who enlisted in the military between 1990 and 1993 with "moral waivers" for misdemeanors, felonies and substance abuse showed they were more likely to be separated from the service for misconduct than those without such waivers. The study was part of a 1999 General Accounting Office report urging the military to bolster criminal background checks of recruits.

Law enforcement officials have told the Chicago Sun-Times that recruiters are seeking more waivers and allowing more applicants with gang tattoos because they are under the gun to keep enlistment up. Recruiting levels have dropped from 75,885 in 2001 to 73,373 last year, Army records show.

Defense Department investigator Scott Barfield has said he identified hundreds of gang members at Fort Lewis, Wash., since 2002. Most were soldiers, but some were family members of the soldiers, he said.

Law enforcement officials at Army bases in other parts of the country also expressed concerns that gang activity may be rising among soldiers. One provided the Sun-Times with photos of military buildings and equipment in Iraq that were vandalized with graffiti of gangs based in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.

But a spokesman for the Army's Criminal Investigation Command has said gang-related activity among soldiers does not appear to be a significant problem. And a spokesman for the Army's Recruiting Command said there is no policy in place to account for the increase of waivers for misdemeanors since 2001.

More medical exceptions



The Army provided the Sun-Times with records showing the total number of waivers granted to recruits over the past five years. Waivers for misdemeanors steadily doubled from about 3 percent of the total number of recruits in 2001 to about 6 percent in 2005, the records show.

Over the same period, waivers for disqualifying medical problems rose from about 4 percent to nearly 7 percent of the total number of recruits.

This fiscal year, which ends in September, the Army is on pace to grant at least the same percentage of misdemeanor and medical waivers that were issued in 2005, the records show.

The percentage of waivers for drug and alcohol abuse decreased, though, from about 3 percent of the total number of recruits in 2001 to about 1 percent in 2005.

And the number of waivers granted for "serious criminal misconduct" -- felonies, mainly -- was less than 1 percent of the total for each year.

S. Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army's Recruiting Command, said the rising number of misdemeanor and medical waivers has occurred randomly and was not set into motion by any Army policies that have relaxed qualifications for recruits.

"The number of waivers is something that will vary from time to time," he said, adding, "approval of waivers is not based on mission accomplishment."

Smith said the Army's waiver process allows people who have "overcome mistakes" to serve their country.

"The enlistees who receive waivers are not coming into the Army to be rehabilitated," he said. "They have already overcome their mistakes."

He said changes in the criminal justice system have affected the number of waivers granted.

"Today, young men and women are being charged for offenses that in earlier years wouldn't have been considered a serious offense and might not have resulted in charges in the first place," Smith said.

'Whole person' concept



"The Army has always issued waivers to otherwise qualified applicants who may not meet all our stringent requirements," Smith said. "Waiver authorities apply the 'whole person' concept when considering waiver applications. This is the right thing to do for those Americans who want to serve."

Smith added that only three of 10 men and women between 17 and 24 qualify for service because of medical, moral, physical, education and aptitude "challenges."

Based on the 1999 recommendations by the General Accounting Office, the Army and other branches of the military have improved their screening of applicants for criminal records.

Since 2003, the Army has been conducting online sex offender checks with state and local sex offender registries, Smith said. In October 2000, the Army began requiring a national electronic fingerprint check of every recruit and must have results back on the prints before allowing the recruit to ship out for training, Smith said.

"We still require manual police checks in areas where they are still available," he said.

fmain@suntimes.com