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Police School Graduating Class, Grand Rapids, MI, January 21, 1966
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Police School Graduating Class, Grand Rapids, MI, January 21, 1966
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D19, folder "Police School Graduating Class,
Grand Rapids, MI, January 21, 1966" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary
and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D19 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
January 17, 1966
REMARKS ON CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
TO BE INCORPORATED INTO A SPEECH BY
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD
BEFORE GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN,
POLICE SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS,
JANUARY 21, 1966
This is an important day for you as you graduate
from police school and begin your careers as law enforcement
officers. It is also an important day for your our city, which is
proud of you for having completed the rigorous training and
expectant of the talent, strength and resolve which you bring to
your important duties.
The hard, exacting and sometimes dangerous
career you have chosen places on each of you a tremendous
responsibility. The citizens of Grand Rapids have hired you to
protect them. They have placed you in the forefront of the battle
for an orderly and decent society with the expectation that you
will meet the challenge of modern crime and that your every
action will reflect the highest ideals of respect for and dedication
to the law.
Respect for the law is basic to a police officer,
as it should be to all good citizens. Unhappily, however, this
vital trait is on the ebb in many segments of our population today,
and it is this fact which is at the heart of many of the gravest
problems facing law enforcement. It is clear to me that the
apathy of many Americans to the preservation of law and order
is a key factor in this Nation's soaring crime rate.
Collective indifference is breeding disrespect for the law, and
this can only result in the continuing acceleration of our crime
problem.
Let us consider for a moment statistics relating
to the rise of serious crime in this country, as compiled in the
FBI's Uniform Crime Reports.
In 1964, there were over 2, 600, 000 serious crimes
reported in the United States, a 13 percent increase over 1963.
Of all the persons arrested for these crimes in 1964, 62 percent
were under the age of 21. Our juveniles alone, who comprise
less than 20 percent of our national population, account for almost
50 percent of all arrests for serious crimes.
- 2 -
These crimes are outpacing our population growth
by 6 to 1 with new records being set almost yearly. And it should
be kept in mind that serious crime is not measured in terms of
traffic violations or other minor incidents but rather in the major
offenses of murder, robbery, forcible rape, burglary, aggravated
assault, larceny over $50 and auto theft.
These chilling statistics serve as a barometer of
the Nation's moral climate. The message they contain is explicit:
indifference to the safety of one's fellow citizens and the general
This
community aids and supports the underworld and encourages more
crime and violence. It is a grim merry-go-round in which the
criminal always catches the brass ring and the honest citizen pays
the bill.
And for you police officers, these crime figures
have a very special meaning. They translate into the basics of
your profession, the contact you have with the public in your day-
to-day operations.
You see these statistics in the making. For you,
they are translated into the sullen witnesses who refuse to furnish
information; the citizens who turn away because they do not want
to become involved; the young punks who hurl taunts or worse.
- 3 - -
And they also are translated into the crowds in any of a hundred
cities who ignore police officers in distress while the officers
attempt to forestall the commission of crimes.
"I don't want to get involved." This statement
has become the byword of far too many Americans with regard
to matters relating to law enforcement. They will go out of their
way to avoid observing any incident which might involve them as
a witness to a crime. Some, when there is no other way out, will
even resort to outright lying to escape involvement, claiming they
saw nothing or giving a false name and address so they cannot be
located when their testimony is needed.
A classic example of this cruel non-involvement
creed occurred in New York City on March 13, 1964. On that
bleak morning, Kitty Genovese was fatally assaulted while 37 of
her neighbors watched from their windows. Miss Genovese fought
for survival. She was twice freed by her assailant, then attacked
again over a period of some few minutes. Yet not only did the
witnesses make no effort to assist her, they did not even take the
simple action of phoning the police.
One man did go to his telephone. He called a
friend miles across town to ask what he should do. He was advised
- 4 -
to call the police, but instead he called a neighbor and this man
finally notified the authorities. Officers were on the scene
within five minutes but it was then too late.
I fear this widely publicized tragedy did not teach
a lasting lesson, however, for exactly one year later a woman
reporter re-enacted Miss Genovese's slow and agonizing death.
And what happened? As you may have surmised, the same thing
happened--no one made any move to help.
Greater need for upgrading citizen moral and
civic standards is interwoven in the crime statistics I have cited.
This is a tremendously complex problem but it must be solved if
our Nation is to continue to flourish. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
has stated, "This breakdown in our national moral standards can
only render us impotent as a people and as a Nation. Law and
order are the foundations upon which successful government must
stand. Without law and order, society will destroy itself."
Disrespect for the law and law enforcement is a
bitter pill for the police officer. Often underpaid and overworked, he
is maligned for doing his duty as well as for not doing it. And, of
course, he is working under rigid legal restrictions that have
steadily encroached on his power to operate quickly and decisively.
- 5 -
Let us examine this matter of restrictions. The
chief judge of a Federal Court of Appeals recently asserted
that there have been two distinct trends in the criminal law
during the last 40 years--"to strengthen the rights of the
individual and to restrict the powers of the police."
The demands on law enforcement personnel today
are complex and exacting. Society expects its police officers to
be far more than investigators or enforcers of the law. It
expects them to handle questions of constitutional law, on a
moments notice, that would baffle law scholars paring over their
books at their leisure.
Recent court decisions have shackled our Nation's
police with the impossible task of deciding constitutional law
instantly, often in the face of danger. And, as you graduates
know, if you err, and your actions are judged in retrospect, society
penalizes you and itself by freeing the criminal even if he is known
to be guilty of some serious crime. The U. S. Supreme Court, in
a 1961 decision, held that a police officer who is determined to
have erred and made an unreasonable search or an arrest without
probable cause is subject to being sued in Federal Court.
- 6 -
LIBRARY
In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that a person
has a right to demand an attorney at the time he is arrested for
committing a crime. Frequently the arresting officer has no
one to turn to for prompt legal guidance, but one mistake on his
part, intentional or not, can totally negate all the efforts expended
to capture a criminal.
The irony of this is that while society requires
that every accused criminal be provided trained legal counsel, it
has in many areas of our country refrained from providing the
funds needed to properly man law enforcement agencies with
adequately trained personnel.
In recent years, our courts have been severely
criticized for some of their rulings which seemed to elevate the
rights of the individual above the rights of society.
A classic case
in Chicago illustrates this point vividly.
Two plainclothes Chicago police officers were
not
en route home after completing a tour of duty. They heard a man
shout that a "crazy guy is trying to cut people with a bottle."
Stopping to investigate, the officers came upon two men, one holding
a broken beer bottle. The officers identified themselves, drew
their guns and instructed the man to drop the bottle. The man
- 7 -
responded with a vile oath and shoved the jagged bottle into the
face of one of the officers, inflicting wounds requiring 27 stitches
to close. The officer was hospitalized for 23 days and will bear
permanent scars on his face.
The two men were subdued and five months later,
in March, 1965, they were brought to trial on charges of
aggravated assault upon law enforcement officers. The judge
acquitted both defendants, contending that they were merely
protecting themselves from an attempt by the officers to illegally
arrest them. The judge also assailed the officers for having
used "excessive force" by drawing their weapons. He asked,
"What is a citizen to do when he is approached by two officers
with a gun?"
It is certainly hoped that other judges take a dim
view of this judicial decision. There are more than enough
attacks on police officers already.
Some criminals have used the right to counsel to
make a mockery of our system of justice. A popular scheme
these days is for an accused person to request a trial delay on
the claim that he does not have an attorney.
- 8 -
A school teacher in an eastern city who was charged
with a morals offense against two young girls sought and was
granted five postponements of his trial on the claim that he had
no lawyer. He remained free on bail until a disgusted judge finally
ordered him to jail until he secured an attorney.
In another case, a man charged with a sex crime
managed to avoid trial for almost three years. After obtaining
three continuances of his case because he had no lawyer, he hired
one on the fourth date set for the trial. But this lawyer needed
time to prepare his case, so trial was put off again. The defendant
then disappeared and was not apprehended for 13 months. On the
new trial date he fired his attorney and was granted a delay to hire
a new one. This he did on the day the trial was to start and again
a postponement was granted for the lawyer to prepare the case.
A judge finally halted this farce when he refused to allow the de-
fendant to again fire his attorney on the next date of trial.
Law enforcement has been hindered by some of
these decisions, of that there can be no doubt. They must be obeyed,
however, and law enforcement must do everything possible to
minimize their impact.
- 9 -
It is, therefore, incumbent on you in this graduating
class to direct your best efforts toward gaining the full support of
the public. The citizen good will which provides increased appro-
priations for better salaries, training and equipment is not easily
come by. It must be earned through your actions and words.
Each of you is responsible for building the image of
law enforcement. It must be an image based on integrity that can
demand respect and confidence.
This is a 24-hour-a-day job because your every act
will be under constant scrutiny. Let your future performances
reflect the training you have received in this class, and never forget
the trust which has been placed in you by your department and your
community.
I wish you Godspeed and good fortune in your new
careers.
Twanklin
- 10 -
LIBRARA