I remember one case which to this day which makes me laugh thinking about ATF number scams played by some RACs and Agents. Having to be part of a cover team and listening to the wire was like listening to Saturday Night Live. It started out as couple of SA's finding some down and out tweakers in a run down trailer park. They let it be known that they had money and were looking to buy some meth. The tweakers said sure we can help make that happen and began selling them very small quantities of overpriced meth which they cut the crap out.
Needing to put some numbers on the table for case productivity, the two agents asked them if they knew anyone interested in selling guns. When asked what kind of guns the Agents wanted, the response was "like sawed off shotguns or machine guns". One tweaker said "I know a guy with a shotgun" and the second one said "I have a hack saw". A few minutes later there was shotgun, hack saw and a custom cut down operation going on to make the shotgun short enough to be illegal (at the Agents directions). Again, the Agents paid crazy high prices for a piece of crap cut up shotgun to encourage future greedy bad behavior.
A few days later there was another meth buy and the Agents now turned the conversation to "do you know anyone who could sell us pipe bombs"? The bewildered tweakers figured these idiots would pay well for anything. Once they asked the Agents to explain what a pipe bomb was and how to make it, the tweakers said, sure....come back tomorrow. The next day there was a buy made of a hodge podge of PVC and metal pipes filled with gun powder. Again, the Agents paid crazy high prices and were told they can have as many as they wanted.
When the "bombs" were cracked open with a water bolt, they contained mostly underwear, socks and miscellaneous laundry as space filler. The idiots figured they could stretch their gun powder budgets and maximize profit by using small amounts of power and more laundry.
In the end, the RAC spun the case as a 924© drug conspiracy using Title II firearms and explosives (short shotgun and pipe bombs). Big search warrant and press conference on the "bomb making ring" and even some BS about connections to drug cartels. I even think there were a bunch of awards given!! You just can't make this shit up!
So, the moral of the story and others like Fast and Furious, if you need some numbers to justify something, just go out and create your own criminals and crimes. Hold a press conference and convince everyone how you are making the community safer.