NBC News reporters don trenchcoats and battle crime

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann used to joke about Bill O'Reilly thinking that Fox News had its own police department. Now, NBC News is acting like it thinks it's INTERPOL.

NBC News is working on a series in which they hunt down war criminals and play "gotcha" like they did on "To Catch a Predator." (Suggested Titles: "The Biggest War Criminal," "Who Wants to Be a War Criminal," "Howie Do It" - oh, sorry, that last one's taken.)

The network teamed up with a Rwandan prosecutor to track down Leopold Munyakazi, who's accused of participating in the Rwandan massacres. Except that he wasn't hiding, exactly, he was a visiting professor at a college in Maryland (his course "Genocide 101" was a dead giveaway). They filmed interviews with the college president, Sanford Ungar, and its director of communications, the adorably named Kate Pipkin.

"I think they wanted it to be an ambush, to be frank," Pipkin told the New York Times.

"If the prosecutor has evidence or has concerns he wants to present, why is he doing it in the company of NBC News?" Ungar wondered, saying the incident smacked of a stunt pulled by NBC. "I don't think (the Rwandan prosecutor) sat in Kigali and said, 'Hmm, what would be the best way for me to achieve justice? I think I'll call NBC and ask them.'"

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement: "A program of this kind could negatively impact law enforcement's ability to investigate and bring cases against the perpetrators of these horrible crimes."

The accused claims he's being persecuted because he has disagreements with Rwanda's political leaders.

So: Nice going, NBC News.

And no, they're not after Rumsfeld and Cheney.