Remarks Following a Visit With Two Policemen Injured in a Bomb Explosion in Kansas City, Missouri

First, they said they were very happy they went into police work. That is the first question I asked. I said, "In view of the fact this is dangerous, that the pay isn't too good, do you think you should have gone in?" They said, "Yes." They were proud to be in this work.

Secondly, the wife of one of the policemen--and this is very important--said that she was very proud of her husband. I said for her to tell all of the wives, the next time she was at a meeting of the police wives auxiliary organization, that I think it is sometimes harder for the women at home when their husbands are out on the firing line than it is for the men themselves. The men are acting and the women have to stay home and worry.

I was glad to be able to say that and to give them encouragement.

As far as the policemen were concerned, I think the most impressive thing for them were the messages received, not only from all over Kansas City but particularly from the area in which they worked. They pointed out that in this area in which they worked on the Pinpoint [Patrol] program, which, as you know, is a Model Cities program--they didn't put it this way, but I would put it this way--was a program designed to have people obey the law, not because they fear it but because they respect it--that they had messages from so many people in that area, including, as one of them said, a wife of one of the individuals in that area who was considered to be quite an activist or militant, as he used the term, brought a plant up to them and said, "We don't approve of this kind of thing and we are very sorry that it happened," which led me to the statement that in our society today, there are people who have very strong feelings about many causes, that the great majority of people--and this covers everybody, regardless of whether they are black or white or what their national background is, regardless of whether they are young or old--they disapprove of violence.

The last thing I would say is that after meeting these young men--they were relatively young, they were both, shall we say, less than 40---who were serving in the police department, it made me realize that perhaps we in this country can do something for the police.

When I say we can do something, I don't mean just to pass the laws. We are passing laws that will give them tools to do the job.

Also, it is important to have judges in the courts and a court procedure that will have swift justice. The courts move much too slowly in many of these cases due to the fact that they have very, very heavy backlogs. We are working on that.

We need, as the Chief Justice pointed it out in his speech to the American Bar, a reexamination of all of our procedures here so we can speed up justice, because justice in its true sense must be swift. That is fair to the accused as well as, of course, to the people who are in society.

But there is one thing that we all can do. We might be able to pay the police more money, if they deserve it, and I think they do in many cases, and certainly we can give them better laws. But what is most important is--that this doesn't cost any money and it doesn't require any action as far as laws are concerned--let's give them respect.

Here they are underpaid, a dangerous job, protecting us, and instead of calling them pigs and spitting on them, and shouting profane slogans at them as they go about their job, let's give them respect.

I mentioned that to one of the officers. He was rather moved by it. He said, "Well, it is really true. You know, we are down there at the station house. We like our work. We are proud of what we are doing. Sometimes the hardest thing is not to have it understood that we are really working for the good of all people."

He wasn't any sortie, this fellow. He wasn't crying about the fact that some people didn't like him. But he said, "In modern police work, we don't try to create the impression that you have just got to be afraid of the police. We want to have people understand what we are doing. That is what the Pinpoint program is about, going among people, a program of education as to why the police have to carry on their activities, and creating understanding, particularly among our young people."

So I was glad of this visit, apart from the fact of the Federal program, and I want to express my sympathy to two individuals who were injured in the line of duty. I was glad to get firsthand from two men out on the firing line their attitudes toward the work they were in.

And my message to the American people, to the people of Kansas City, to the people of all of our cities is this:

We may not be able to pay our police as much as their hazardous duty requires. But we all can give them respect and the backing that they should have, the backing for justice, for fairness, and for the hard work that all of them are engaging in in our behalf.