Remarks of the President of the United States of America to the 44th Annual Informative Conference of the National Sheriff's Association
| Date | 01 October 1984 |
| Published date | 01 October 1984 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8405700403 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
REMARKS
OF THE
PRESIDENT
OF THE
UNITED
STATES OF
AMERICATOTHE44TH
ANNUAL
INFORMATIVE
CONFERENCE
OF THE
NATIONAL
SHERIFF'S
ASSOCIATION
Main
Ballroom, Park
View
Hilton
Hartford, Connecticut
1984
THE
PRESIDENT:
Thank
you.
Thank
you very much. Mr.
Chairman
and
gentlemen, ladies
and
gentlemen, Iwant to begin by
saying how much I've looked forward to this chance to be with you
today.
You know, in America's frontier days the
Sheriffs
badge was the
symbol of
our
nation's quest for law and justice. And today that
badge still stands for commitment to the law and dedication to
justice.
Those of you in the Sheriffs Association are in the forefront of
America's law enforcement community. All of you have firsthand
experience with the problem of crime and lawlessness in
our
society.
And the jobs you hold are dangerous and difficult ones. And believe
me, I know. I mean no irreverence when I mention
that
back in those
days when I was doing television I - I once played a sheriff, a
western sheriff, in a TV drama.
And
the gist of the story was
that
the
sheriff
thought
he could do the
job
without a gun.
It
was a 30 minute
show. I was dead in 27 minutes.
So, may I say to all of you today what millions of Americans would
say if they had the chance:
thank
you for standingup for the nation's
dream
of personal freedom under the rule of law;
thank
you for
standing against those who would transform
that
dream into a
nightmare of wrongdoing
and
lawlessness. And
thank
you for your
service to your communities, to your country, and to the cause of law
and
justice.
Now, I know
that
many of you at this conference have served the
public interestfor lengthy periods of time,
and
that
you lived through
the grim years of the 60s
and
the 70s, when crime became an epidemic
in America. In those decades, serious crime more than tripled. By
the start of the 80s, crime was costing more
than
$10 billion in
financial losses, touching 30% of America's homes, and taking the
lives of almost 25,000 Americans a year.
Along with the rise incrime came a dangerous widespread loss of
faith by the American people in their criminaljustice system. Eighty-
320 October 1984
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