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WIDE WORLD PHOTO
i picture,
ring range ot the rtJI I raining jcnuui. mu,b ■>■»• "-^ .--a--- -■- V". j^ "11"
■""» man the customary "bull's eye." The agents ore trained to shoot at vital spots. 5eated in the
foreground are other agents awaiting their turn on the range.
future special agents ot the FBI are practicing pistol shooting from a standing position in this
'"ken on the firing range at the FBI Training School. Note that the targets are the shape ot
™ther than the customary "bull's eye " The agents ore trained to shoot at vital spots. 5eatec
if FBI
it if it
activities-
in its
duty I
le looks f»r'
i the press*
.. Pui.i.c";,!
rves a mttl
■ media n'fy
orcement " ,
, the pub1*
nted men
tion as
■ill. which1
inted. Af«*l
ell for the!
live to ecu"
DURAGE
N
the p<
■lice
paid-l
thoi.s.in
•cingol
havin
i start as
tailing S»l'
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of compeW
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skilled workers who average 4,500
dollars or salesmen and clerks who
average 4,420 dollars per annum. In
industrial areas, the average policeman would better his financial condition by working in a factory. That the
nation's police are grossly underpaid
is brought into even sharper focus
when a policeman's starting salary of
'V25 dollars in one eastern city is
compared with the entrance salary for
i|s garbage collectors, which is 3,950
dollars a year.
The answer is public education, directed at the individual needs of the
immunity. This has been demonstrated in the uphill fight we have all
experienced in the field of law en-
torcement training. When the FBI
Rational Academy was founded
twenty years ago last Julv . . . police
training was the exception rather than
he rule. Last year alone, it was our
Privilege to participate in 2,315 local,
county and state police training
sch?oIs throughout the United States
which, for the most part, were being
operated by graduates of the FBI Na-
2$u Acao^emy. who now number
Public education and the development of a truly workable partnership
etvyeen citizens and law enforcement
re imperative necessities if police departments are to be kept free of the
JjUang influence of venal politics.
Jjvery honest Chief of Police knows
hat corruption begets corruption.
■ ne of the most degenerative forces
American life has been corruption
m i?l,nlic office. Corrupt politicians
isrtf f°r venal Poetical machines. It
, the taxpaver and law-abiding citizen who suffers.
Whenever we find machines of corruption, we also find an attitude of
Pi'hhc indifference. We also find law
enforcement shackled and inefficient
~we find crime running rampant,
pA°rs Forum News, February, 1956
in
When a lackadaisical attitude develops, when corrupt, venal politicians
take over, the first agency of public
service to suffer is the police. By the
same token, the influence of efficient
law enforcement officers can turn the
tide, because essentially the soul and
conscience of America are right. An
unyielding stand for the right is infectious. It is the first step in molding
public opinion.
When a law enforcement bodv
proves to the public that it is as much
concerned with the establishment of
innocence as it is with the establishment of guilt, it wins the support of
decent citizens. The sooner everyone
realizes that the police will work
equally as hard to extricate an innocent person who is caught in a web
of circumstances, the greater will be
the public confidence and support of
that law enforcement agency. Beyond
that, the effects will be far-reaching.
Prejudices which are born of incompetence and nurtured by the suspicion
of duress thrive upon doubts skillfully extracted from the testimony of
untrained police officers by unscrupulous lawyers. The very heart of law
enforcement is at stake whenever an
officer's testimony is shaken or contra-
dieted in court.
Events and situations brought on by
conditions of our times necessitate a
greater consciousness of the need for
protecting the civil rights of all people. Not only must our actions in fact
be proper, we must be able to establish in court, if need be, that they
were proper.
Every time the charge of duress, unethical conduct or third degree tactics
is substantiated, all law enforcement
get a "black eye." When mistakes are
made, we ourselves should be the first
to take corrective action. The sooner
every practice smacking of oppresion
is abolished, the quicker law enforce
ment will win and hold the respect of
the citizens it serves.
There is another area where much
remains to be done in the way of public education. There is a real need to
make it impossible for the mouthpieces of the underworld to effect delays by quibbling over words and
technicalities.
The American people do not want
their liberties chipped away through
reckless and willful invasions by the
police. Neither do they want criminal
elements to corrupt constitutional
safeguards to cover their depredations
through technicalities.
The matter of searches and seizures
is one of the problems we encounter
daily. The law is far from settled. The
most unexpected and unusual sihia-
tions can arise when action must be
taken immediately without time to
consult law books or the prosecuting
attorney. It is grossly unfair for criminals to go free, after they have committed clear violations of the law, because of some unexpected technicality
when law enIorcement acts in good
faith upon the basis of its best judgment and training.
Even the Justices of the Supreme
Court have not been able to reach
unanimous decisions as to what is
right and proper in such cases. From
October, 1941, to June of 1954, the
Supreme Court has rendered opinions
in twenty cases originating with police
action involving searches and seizures.
In not a single opinion could all of the
Justices agree on the proper course of
procedure which should have been
taken.
The burden of proof is becoming
more and more difficult. There is an
increasing reluctance on the part of
many citizens to testify. This is understandable when witnesses are not protected in courts from vicious smears
and when unethical lawyers go beyond the proper bounds of cross-
examination.
COMMUNISTS ADEPT AT
SMEAR TACTICS
The confidential informant has become an institution and is used as a
means of establishing truth. The use
of the confidential informant is as old
as man. In fact the first recorded use
of the confidential informant is found
in the Old Testament. As an institution, the confidential informant is
used not only by law enforcement,
but in practically every walk of life,
particularly by the press and our
financial institutions.
In recent years, there has been a
determined campaign designed to deprive law enforcement of the use of
the time-tested and valued confidential informant. This campaign of vituperation is part and parcel of Commu-
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FebflA
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