Statement About Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 1972

I JOIN with millions of other grateful Americans in paying tribute to the men and women of the law enforcement profession during Police Week, May 14 to May 20, and in honoring on Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15, the sacrifices of peace officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.

These observances focus deserved recognition on the quiet but perilous heroism of the policemen and policewomen in communities across the land. They provide an occasion for us to thank these dedicated professionals for doing an often thankless job so superbly.

An observation made shortly before his death by the late J. Edgar Hoover, for so long America's foremost peace officer, might well keynote Police Week, 1972. Despite the special challenge now posed to police pride and morale by some extreme elements which revile law enforcement, Director Hoover said we must not ignore the steady improvement in police citizen relations over the past half century-from the 1920's when "citizens had only minimal respect" for law enforcement, until today, when "as never before, our profession is respected and supported."

This is a trend which augurs well for the future of ordered freedom in the United States. It is a trend which all Americans must work to sustain by making sure that the enforcement process and the laws themselves are worthy of respect, and then by rendering them the full respect they deserve.

After a long, hard battle against rising crime and lawlessness in our society, we have begun to win some victories, slowing the tide overall and even reversing it in some categories. The lion's share of the credit for this important breakthrough certainly belongs to the people on the front lines: the men and women of the Nation's peace forces.

I wish it were possible for me to meet with representatives of the police forces in every American community and extend my personal thanks to them, as I was able to do recently with a group of officers from the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, which has spearheaded a 50 percent reduction in major crime in the Capital over the last 3 years.¹

¹ See Item 126.

What is possible is for local leaders across the land to foster similar recognition of their communities' "finest"--and I hope many of them will do so this week and in the future.

Finally, this Peace Officers Memorial Day, let us deepen our resolve to do a better job of protecting those who risk so much in protecting us. The increase in physical attacks on police officers, and the rise in police killings (up 26 percent last year to 126), must be reversed. This Administration has extended FBI assistance to local authorities in bringing police killers to justice; we have sought the establishment of Federal survivors benefits for the brave wives and families bereaved by these tragedies; and we shall continue seeking measures not only to deal with the aftermath of police killings but, most importantly of all, to deter and prevent their occurrence. I appeal once again for determined efforts by citizens and public officials everywhere to counter this vicious threat, which by menacing the safety of our peace officers menaces the safety of us all.