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“ fair mee We Stand: For ‘The Constitution of The United States ‘hs ‘io Been ae tnspired. nae. TUESDAY, JUNE: 1,°:1965 JA-14 EDITORIAL PAGE oo Ie, wrens WS. CITY, the riot Sunday in Liberty “Park with the criticism that this is what can happen when the individual lets a mob make up his mind for him. It would be easy to dismiss the wholesale disorderliness as just an- other deplorable example of what can happen when young people don’t learn how to put leisure time to constructive use. So much is at stake, however, that what happened should not be written off as only the work of a few punks and the immature who let their emotions get the better of them. Such incidents are occurring far too often across the nation not to suspect that the symptoms go much deeper. At stake, of course, is the right of the law-abiding citizens of Salt Lake City to use their parks and play- Er ounds ith safety. All i660 often, how- _ IT WOULD BE EASY to shrug off ever, our parks are being frequented by drunks, perverts, molesters, and riff-raff locking for a fight. IF THE ONLY WAY to keep our parks free from such trouble- makers is to get tough and to step-up police patrols, then so be it. Otherwise, ii would be better to plow up the parks and playgrounds and turn them over to housing and commercial develop- ment than it would be to let lawless ’ elements take them over. At stake is the fundamental resnect for law and order on which society is built. Without its stabilizing influence, progress is hard to come by. Such respect, however, hasn't been helped by the number of recent court. rulings which, on technicalities, have led too many people to think they can harass an arrésting officer and get awav with it. If the arrests that were made at Liberty Park didn’t put that notion to rest, maybe we should consider adopt-— ing a law like the one being proposed by the American Law Institute. In its Model Penal Code is a provision which No Re 7m For Riots - more crime, a specifies that 2 ‘person being a ry must submit when he knows the e per- son making such an arrest is a police officer. If the arrest turns out to be unlawful, the individual's civil and criminal remedies are still protected. ALSO AT STAKE is the future of any- one foolish enough to Jet himself become embroiled with the law.- As Judge Jerome M. Lasky of New York’s Nassau County District Court has written in Reader’s Digest, “Too many young people are woefully una- ware of the harm that a police record for a seemingly petty violation can do to their lives.” Because of his police record, a young man may find it impossible to enter a profession where a special li- cense is needed, such as law or real estate brokerage. It could hurt his chances of acceptance into the armed services, or deny him promotion to officer status if he is accepted. Many firms are reluctant to hire young men with police records. With so much at stake, it’s only common sense to avoid showing disre- spect to a police officer, especially if a crowd has gathered. An act of defiance may force an officer to make an ar- rest. Moreover, don’t remain in the area where a gang fight or other rjot is taking place. Innocent bystanders may sometimes be arrested by police- men who are unable to tell those who are involved from those who are not. If an arrest is considered wrongful, it’s better to submit quietly and iater sue for damages than to precipitate a . fracas that can blow up out of all pro- portion to the original incident. ABOVE ALL, it's totally irrational to expect the police to curb an increas- ing crime rate and at the same time subject them to physical attacks from ordinary citizens, as has happened re- peatedly across the country. Tf such attacks on police continue, all of us will pay dearly in the form of more and rrested C y a , 7% BR | t A “i at . 4 oF roam ‘ ffi ee