The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-12
CL0RIFY POLICE NOT CANCSTERS SAID PRESIDENT
Radio Greeting of Hoover to the Chiefs of Police at St Petersbnrgh, Fla.

Washington, Oct 12-UP)-In radio greeting to the Internation- al association of Chiefs of Police at St Petersburg, Fla, President Hoover said today that the coun- try should glorify it's police in- stead of glorifying cowardly gang sters. MT Hoover spoke from the White House.
 The president said the police were national heroes and intimated that he thought crime could be suppressed if the police were not hampered by indifferent support, ineficiencies in criminal procedure and occasional lack of cooperation on the part of prosecuting author ities. MT Hoover did not refer to the Wickersham commission report charging widespread police brutal fty in the use of third degree meth- ods of crime detection.
 ''It is my privilege on behalf of the government to greet the dele gates to the 3Sth annual conven- on of the International Associa- tion of Police Chiefs meeting at St Petersburg. I wish to add a cor dial welcome to the delegates and guests who have come from beyond our shores.
 "In the United States a major responsibility rests upon the should CTS of our chiefs of police. Ours is a form of government where the task and responsibility of maintenance of organized society through it's never-ending battle against crime rests upon each To- cal community. The chiefs of po- lice occupy position of high command in that service. In not a few of our communities the police have been subject to criticism. That criticism arises from the exception and not the rule in police conduct. Moreover, there is sentimental ism in some people which makes popular heroes out of criminals which needs replacement by a seti- mentalism that makes a popular hero of the policeman for the courage and devotion he shows in protection of our citizens. Instead of glorification of cowardly gang sters we need the glorification of police men who do their duty and who give their lives in public pro- tection.
 "The police perform an amending task, not alone in the mothering of the children on our streets and in the good humored dissolution of traffic jams, but in this incessant war against criminals. If the police had the vigilant, universal back of public opinion in their communi- ties, if they had the implacabie support of the prosecuting authori- ties and the courts, if our criminal laws in their endeavor to protect the innocent did not furnish loop holes through which escape for the guilty. I am convinced that our po- lice would stamp out the excessive crime and remove the worldwide c disrepute which has disgraced some of our great cities.
 "The police by instinct are the enemies of gang activities, robber- ies, hold-upS and ruthless murder. But so long as criminals can pro- ceed with the snug assurance that they can defeat the law there Is a constant Encouragement to the po- lice. I wonder at times that they maintain the vigilance and courage they do against the odds with which they have to contend.
 "I extend to you my cordial good wishes for a helpful convention. know there will emerge from col lective counsel at your meeting ar increased skill and resoursefulness and deeper devotion in advance ment of public welfare. I look for ward confidently to the day when the moral forces of every commu- nifty will rally to your support in the fight against crime everywhere.