March 18th, 2010

Spring Training:
Queens College Students Carry Guns, Arrest Bad Guys In IRS Workshop

By DOMENICK RAFTER

Early last Friday 20 students from Queens College and Pace University gathered on a rain-soaked Queens College campus to get the chance to learn what life is like as a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service.

Student’s prepare to storm the offices of a mock corporation to make arrests.

The students took part in a day-long event called the “Adrian Project,” where more than a dozen IRS special agents from the New York and New Jersey field offices guided them through the process of investigating and solving a financial crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“You don’t get exposure to the outside world through your college classes alone,” said Joseph Foy, a special agent at the New York field office and Queens College alumnus, who was the lead instructor.

Day-Long Investigation
The event began at 7 a.m. inside the Campbell Dome, which served as headquarters for the day. Students were broken up into four groups with two coaches, real IRS special agents, for each group. Two of the coaches, Special Agent Charles Hyacinthe of the New York field office and Special Agent Eric Rennert of the New Jersey field office, are both alumni of Queens College.

During the course of the morning, the students were given information about a tax crime; money laundered overseas to a country home to terrorism. For the first couple of hours, students went over the records of a fake not-for-profit company, including tax filings, bank statements, suspicious activity reports and other financial documents, before going around interviewing potential suspects or witnesses.

At lunchtime, the students were given a crash course in how to take in suspects for arrest, including the process of entering a location to execute a search warrants or arrest warrants, how to apply handcuffs to a suspect and how to deal with other distractions in the process.

Team coaches teach students how to correctly spproach and apprehend a suspect.

In the afternoon, the students staked out suspects around campus in the rain, watching their moves, attempting to interview suspects and later appearing before a magistrate judge to attempt to obtain either search warrants or arrest warrants. Once warrants were issued, the students took part in storming a mock office and arresting suspects, who were all special agents posing as criminals.

Various locations throughout the campus were utilized for the project; a classroom in Powdermaker Hall doubled as an accountant’s office and the Athletics office in Fitzgerald Gym was used as the location of the arrests.

Training History
This is the fifth year the Adrian Project has been held at Queens College. The event has existed since 2000, when it was first implemented at Adrian College in Adrian, Mich., from where it gets its name. From there, it spread to more than 30 states. To date, more than 2,000 students have taken part.

Dr. Susanne O’Callaghan, Associate Professor of Accounting at Pace University, and her husband John Walker, an accounting professor at Queens College, both discovered the Adrian Project while at a professors’ conference and decided to bring it back to New York. The event is held twice a year, in the spring at Queens College and in the fall at Pace University.

This was the first time agents from the New Jersey field offices were involved. The event was also a training seminar for them as well, as the New Jersey special agents will introduce the Adrian Project to their state in a few weeks.

“It was great seeing what a fantastic educational experience the students at Queens College were able to garner from this real-life experience,” said Robert Glantz, a special agent at the New Jersey field office who was a coach for one of the teams. “We are really looking forward to conducting the first ever Adrian Project in the state of New Jersey.”

Team coaches assist students in looking over financial documents to gather evidence of a crime.

An IRS special agent talks with students about her job.

Where Do I Sign Up?
Most of the students involved in the event were accounting students unsure of their career paths. For many of them, the Adrian Project awakened them to a new and exciting career. At the end of the afternoon, Special Agent Debbie Bassinder of the New Jersey field office, who is also involved in recruitment, asked how many students were interested in a career as a special agent and half of the hands in the room went up. The first hand to rise was that of Pace University Senior Melissa Mielnicki.

“I think this is the coolest thing in the whole wide world,” Mielnicki said, noting that taking part in the exercise made her want to be a special agent.

“This was a really fun experience,” said Amy Wong, a Pace University Senior. “It really reinforces my interest in forensic accounting, particularly as an IRS agent.”

For some students, the hands-on experience made the nine and a half hour event worth taken part in.

“I think more interactive education is a good thing,” said Astoria resident and Pace University Junior Daniel Giordano. “You really get a grasp of what is going on.”

“Accounting students are rarely given the opportunity to peek into the world of the IRS Criminal Investigation division from the classroom,” said Foy. “By partnering with schools, we share in providing a quality educational experience to accounting students so that they may understand how our agency plays an important role in their chosen field.”

Email Reporter Domenick Rafter or call (718) 357-7400, Ext. 125.