FBI surveillance plane flies over city

A single-engine plane circling Bloomington since last week has been conducting visual surveillance for the FBI, an official confirmed Thursday.\nThe flight was ordered for anti-terrorism efforts by the FBI's Indianapolis office, said supervisory special agent Doug Garrison. He wouldn't say what's being looked at, whether the flights will continue or what has been found.\nGarrison also would not say whether there has been a specific threat of terrorism in Bloomington, but said it's part of the FBI's surveillance nationwide in place for the last several years.\n"We wouldn't have done it if we didn't have a reason," Garrison said.\nFBI officials had initially denied they had a surveillance plane in Bloomington, The Associated Press reported.\nIU spokesman Bill Stephan said the University has not been contacted about FBI surveillance involving an airplane.\n"It's a matter we would leave for them," he said. "The FBI would be in the best position to comment." \nThe IU Police Department was also not aware of the flights, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said, though the Bloomington Police Department fielded concerns from residents who saw the low-flying aircraft.\n"We had no complaints come into us," Minger said. "BPD checked it out with the Monroe County Control Tower, and they said all flights are legitimate."\nReached late Thursday, a BPD official would not comment on the flights.\nWilliam Head, an IU professor in criminal justice, said the flights may be for deterrence, "to make sure the presence is felt by people who might be tempted to do something illegal."\nIf that's not the goal, Head said he's not sure how effective the flights could be.\n"If you're a terrorist, the whole idea is to not get caught," he said. "So I sort of question the value of low-level surveillance of the area to try to do something about it, if clearly you're going to be discrete as possible as a terrorist." \nHead said the flights would likely include some sort of surveillance function, global or thermal imaging.\nBecause of Bloomington's diverse cultural and political beliefs and its large population of international students, Head said it would likely be more closely watched by the FBI than towns like Martinsville or Bedford. He said the FBI must think there's some kind of terrorist threat if it's conducting surveillance flights.\nWhether the flights have value, he said, is questionable. But he said they are clearly legal.\nBut Head questions the FBI's honesty on the flights.\n"It's ironic that when they were first spotted, they denied any knowledge," Head said. "They got their hands caught in cookie jar, and now they say (the flights are) in the public's best interest."\nAndrew Stevens, a resident of Bloomington's east side, has followed the flights for the past week. He last saw the plane circling the city on Wednesday.\n"I stepped outside Monday night, and it was making larger circles," Stevens said. "I walked around the neighborhood and noticed the elevation (of the plane) changed. It got kind of low, and that was a little disconcerting."\nStevens said he didn't see the plane Thursday.