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Family Most Important

Franklin police chief looks at crime, controls

(Editor's Note- The following talk was presented to the Franklin Business and Provessional Women on Nov. 20, by Franklin Police Chief Bill O'Brien. O'Brien made the text available to Tidewater News readers and it is reprinted below in full). By BILL O'BRIEN Police Chief Franklin When every individual becomes involved in the fight against crime then we will see a reduction in crime. What we are talking about, and what most people really understand, is the desire to walk in our neighborhood at night without being mugged; the desire to be able to return home from vacation and not find our home broken into or vandalized; the desire to opeate a business without worrying about when an armed robber will come in; the desire to park our car at the shopping center and not have it stolen; the desire to protect our children frbm illicit drugs; or the desire to protect women from rapists. FRANKLIN, STATE COMPARED For hundreds of people in Franklin and the state of Virginia, these desires are not being met. Crime is a growing business in both our urban and rural areas. The following are 1978 statistics of crime in the city of Franklin as compared with the state of Virginia: Murder city 2, state 452 one every 19 hours; rape city 0, state 1,160 one every 7 hours; burglary city 33, state 50,964 one every 10 minutes; robbery city 9, state 4,991 one every 1 hr. 45 min.; larceny city 178, state 131,670 one every 4 minutes; aggravated assaults city 10, state 8,083, one every 1 hour; motor vehicle theft city 4, state 11,776 one every 44 minutes. If we are ever going to control crime, if we are ever going to get a handle on it, if we are ever going to make our communities safe for our families, all of us, every man, woman and child has to get involved and join a concerted effort to stop it. CONTROL STARTS AT HOME The control of crime starts at home, and more specifically, it starts with the family. The chief problem in any community is not the punishment of the criminals, but the preventing of the young from being rrained to crime. We must teach our children the difference between right and wrong before the police and the courts have to do it. All the laws in the world cannot guarantee a closeknit family life, which I believe is the basic ingredient of a lawful society. We must instill in our children, and in ourselves, a respect for the law and for law enforcement officers, and we must translate their respect into positive action. We must serve on juries when called upon to do so. We must be willing to offer information or to testify in court when we have witnessed a crime. We should participate in local crime prevention programs, beginning with adequate security in our homes and businesses, and with neighborhood watch programs. We should learn methods for protecting our property and possessions and physical well-being. Citizen involvement can prevent crimes and can mean the difference between a criminal being caught in the act or going free. MANDATORY SENTENCES There are other problems that need to be addressed. We need mandatory minimum sentences for specific crimes. Criminals are getting out of prison too quickly and returning to the same crimes that put them there in the first place. Virginia has a new law requiring all inmates to be freed on parole six months before their scheduled release date. The law became effective last July 1, whereby approximately 400 inmates were released. Sixty were released in Norfolk and Portsmouth. EARLY RELEASE CRIME Within 90 days after release one inmate was arrested for the murder of a security guard at an A&P store in Portsmouth. This subject was not rescheduled to be released until Dec. 23. Twin sisters in Golansville, were also murdered last September by an early released inmate. The subject had been convicted four years earlier for raping his 56 year old baby sitter. The purpose for releasing 1,200 inmates was to relieve overcrowding in local jails. I prefer crowded jails to dangerous streets. For those people who are sentenced to county jails and to prison, we must provide adequate and humane facilities. We must support the construction of new prison facilities, to the extent necessary, to alleviate over-crowding. However, these facilities do not have to be as plush as county clubs. JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS TOO I hope the forthcoming session of legislatures reserves justice not just for the accused, but for the victims as well. The citizens of Franklin and the state of Virginia want stronger and more effective law enforcement, but wanting more effective law enforcement is not enough, calling for stronger law enforcement is not enough. Each of us must get personally involved. Our city and state can never appropriate enough funds to solve the crime problem, nor can it pass enough laws to end the problem. In fact it can have no lasting impact on crime without the one hundred percent support of the honest citizens of the community. If we don't do our part in solving the problem, we become part of the problem. HOW TO DESTROY U.S. In closing I would like to list some simple ways to destroy a country that has in the publication, "decision". Encourage people to obey their own impulses in the name of freedom. Import vast supplies of hallucinogenic drugs and make them available to youth. Loosen all restraint on the entertainment media so that sexual license may be presented to the public in it's rarest form. Use the mass media to make all normal marriages appear dull and all forms of adultry and perversion appear interesting and exciting. Corrupt the youth of the land by permitting obscenity, pornography, and general immorality to be indulged in freely without fear of arrest or prosecution. Encourage subversives who advocate the violent overthrow of the government. Soft-pedal all discussions of loyalty, responsibility, patriotism, duty and sacrifice in order that freedom of dissent may be established. Discourage the practice of prayer and Bible reading by forbidding it in public schools. Indoctrinate the public to believe that Jesus Christ is a myth, that christianity is a byword, and that the church is an institution that mankind has outgrown. Do these things and destroy a country.