Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-05-26
JOHNSONSPEAKS
WORD FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT
Says Officers From Town.
ships.Up Need Education
and Instruction.

Fargo, n. D., May 26.-Attorney
General sveinbjorn johnson. speak
ing before the North Dakota Law
Enforcement league here today de-
clared that the laws and the law en-
forcement machinery of North
Dakota were ample and that the laws
O1 the state could cue enforced with
cooperation between all OF the law
enforcement officers and machinery
Of the state&
The conbtables in our townships
are inactive" declared MIR. johnson,
''The justices Of the peace in our
townships are inactive; h village
marshals for a large part are in
active; and, while the police OF our
cities are not inactive, they could CO.
operate much more efficiently THAI is
the case now with the sherin's office,
the states attorneys Office and the
state licensing department. The bur-
den of my argument is that II the
army of officers, which the law Gre
ates and which the law requires the
people Of the state to elect every year,
really functioned and really perform
ed the duties imposed upon them by
iaw, and the part which, in our legal
system the theory Of our law re-
quires OF them, in that event the laws
Of our state would be enforced more
efficiently than are the laws of any
other state in the union"
Favors "SchOol OF Instruction."
Mr.. johnson then outlined the in
struction he believed that the states
attorney should give to every law en-
forcement Officer of a county before
that officer takes his oath, showing
the power conferred upon him by the
H--.-L l,
- - A1,> @NSA~~ 49,
der the North Dakota statute. The
the opinion of Mr.. Johnson should
conduct a school of instruction.
w have patriotic speakers telling
Vi OF the Fourth of July that we mus
respect the nag and obey the laws Of
our country. We hear these same
speakers instructing high school stu
dents and the graduates of our col
leges and universities at commence
ment time to the same end" con-
tinued Mr.. johnson, but we never
hear Of any lecture or of any in
struction given to the men charged,
under the law, with the difficult task
of enforcing 1t as to their own per-
sonal responsibility and as to their
legal authority. In this we have been
remiss. If we remedy this wrong I
believe that great impetus will be
given to law enforcement and to re-
manifest within a short time after this
policy is inausurated.
Standard Can BE Raised.
To summarize my conclusions
declared Mr.. johnson after he had
discussed the strengthening of local
laws and certain changing 81 oftcers
which he thought advisable, 81 be-
lieve II we organize the local officers
out in the rural communities, the
townships and the villages, in a gen
eral way as I have indicated. that w
shall very materially raise the stand.
ard Of law enforcement in North Da-
kota- I believe that if the state de-
partment can afford to put a man in
the larger. cities. at least o certain
periods of time. u will very material
ly assist the localspeople in enforcing
the sumptuary laws as, to the pool
rooms, cigarettes, knuffs and the sale
Of Intoxicating liquors. I believe, with
full cooperation among the con.
stables and the justices Of the peace
in the townships, the marshals in the
villages. the police force in the cities
that good results can be obtained.
realize that there arc communitie:
where 1t might beNdificult at first tt
elect copstables and justices Of thu
peace who will feel some responsible,
~ because Of their position: 1T is
process that would require education
and hard work. Nevertheless. the en-.
forcement Of law in such communities
now is probably in most ~ who'll,
unsatisfactory. You cannot get jurieI
to convict unless public sentiment
hacks the law and I believe tho only
way to build UP public sentiment tt
enliKf.ten the public conscience to tn.
necessity as well as the patriotic dut,