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               | Scooby Don't July 25, 2002 -- DETROIT (APJP) -- During the months since last September, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation was allegedly mishandling evidence pertaining to pursuit of terrorists, it mounted an offensive aimed at grade school children on the World Wide Web. The web site is called "FBI for Kids". The home page features a cartoon picture of two dogs sitting in front of a dog house with a sign, like an address placard, inscribed "FBI." In the cartoon, one of the anthropomorphic dogs says, "Hi! I am Darrell and this is Shirley . . . we are black labs who sniff for bombs at the FBI. You can find out more about us on the working dogs site." A child can access other pages of the "Working Dogs" site by clicking on icons which are cartoon renderings of doggie bones. One of these links to a web page featuring another cartoon drawing; a white boy sitting in wheel chair. The scene looks like it depicts a suburban neighborhood. The boy is smiling. Next to him is a Labrador retriever, perhaps it is Darrell, the FBI dog. The dog depicted in the cartoon is sitting passively while to his left, hidden by a garbage can, are drug paraphernalia and loose pills. A little further away from the boy, dog and the dope; there is drawing a white van with a red cross on it, an ambulance. It is speeding down the suburban lane. Near the roadside there is a stick of dynamite behind a tree stump. The fuse is lit. In seconds, such a stick of dynamite would explode and, in so doing, blow up both the ambulance and the boy. Or, in another scenario, should the boy in the wheel chair survive the explosion, he could find the illegal drugs, self medicate to handle the pain of his injuries and become hopelessly addicted. Darrell sits beside the child passively, failing to sniff out the drugs or the bomb. He is, after all, an FBI dog. After examination of the site, the child finds out that the bomb, the ambulance, the drug paraphernalia are merely icons that link to other pages in the web site. The boy in the wheel chair was not in any kind of danger at all. Why does this matter? It is an educational web site aimed at small children. It is supposed to be whimsical. The site is clever, and maybe even educational to small children. It was possibly "play tested" by focus groups made up of elementary school students. At any other time this web design might be an appropriate presentation of the FBI story. But not now. The FBI, by its director's own admission, has a recent history of ineptness. In seeks to reconstruct itself into an effective tool for preventing future tragedies, such as the destruction of the World Trade Center. In order to achieve its revised priorities, restrictions have been lifted on the methods the bureau may employ to monitor the activities of the American citizenry. The FBI might turn into a latter day KGB. It has the technology and now has the license to do just that. Only agents with conscience, humility and wisdom can be trusted to carry such responsibility. At this time, there is both a fear of terrorism, and a fear of the abuse of law enforcement power. We are neither dealing with cartoon dangers nor are we protected by the likes of a Scooby Doo. One can certainly expect a web site to be self congratulatory, and a site for kids must hold their attention, if it is to succeed. But, this is a time of girding ourselves against plausible threats from both terrorists and over zealous police. Triviality and tackiness are uncalled for. The FBI has a long history of successful operations, of dangers averted, of justice delivered. An educational site could use that track record of achievement to show the bureau in a favorable light. It could demonstrate how valuable the bureau has been. By inference, it would also show children how valuable it might be in the future. Such a site might foster an expectation that the bureau can be ethical and effective. It can set high standards and proclaim them publicly. Hopefully, it might also encourage present and future agents to work in the direction of attaining those high standards.   Copyright © 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, American Politics Journal Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Read our privacy policy. Contact us. ISSN No. 1523-1690 | |||