Word: pledgers
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...million mock-up of small-town America opened in 1987, after the FBI decided its fledgling agents needed more true-to-life experience before they % dealt with dangerous criminals. Says the make-believe town's make-believe mayor, Jim Pledger, a 24-year FBI veteran: "Crime doesn't unfold in a classroom. We realized we could no longer limit ourselves to a square brick building...
...huge billboard at the town limit warns that DISPLAY OF WEAPONS, FIRING OF BLANK AMMUNITION AND ARRESTS MAY OCCUR. IF CHALLENGED, PLEASE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. HAVE A NICE DAY! And true to its admonition, mock bank robberies, kidnapings and drug busts take place like clockwork. Mayor Pledger brags that Hogan's Alley is the most crime-ridden town in the world. Says Pledger: "The next crime wave is usually just around the corner. Fortunately for us, though, we've got a 100% success rate at catching criminals...
None of them has had previous acting experience -- or any experience as criminals. They are carefully screened to make sure that their records are clean. Explains Pledger: "We don't want real felons on the job. This is not a training ground for bank robbers or dope dealers. Also we don't accept anybody from the Soviet embassy...
Most of the trainees are in their late 20s and look toward the FBI as a second career. Few have previous law-enforcement experience. Although the agency once tried to recruit lawyers, Pledger says the emphasis now is on hiring accountants. Their main mission: to track the drug trade. "We use financial investigative techniques to audit books and seize assets," says Pledger. "It's the best way to put the dopers behind bars...
...actually mulling a rough plan. The plan, first proposed by city officials last spring: build a new Metropolitan Opera House as part of a general face-lifting project for Manhattan's Columbus Circle. George Sloan, Met board chairman, announced that the board now has a pledge (pledger unnamed) for 40% of the land cost (about $1,250,000), said he was confident the remaining 60% could be raised. Next question: Where to get $15 million for a new opera house...