Excerpts from a speech by John A. Hannah
Hannah, John A.
Address to International Police Academy, Washington, D.C. (as published in Police, May-June, 1970) You, the members of the Academy class of July 1969, have also learned that in these days the...
...Today, the police are not only the agents of order, they are also the agents of change...
...The big house on the hill," as the late Wendell Wilkie put it, "has lost its awesome charm...
...Around the world, this friction is a byproduct of change anti "Change," te proverb tells us, "is the law of life...
...Few needs can be instantly satisfied...
...The very process of change inspires hopes for progress which, once it comes, may be imperfectly shared...
...The management of these conflicting pressures puts the police in a crucial and difficult position...
...W'e hope your work here has enhanced your ability to maintain order with a minimum of force...
...The poor are no longer ignorant about the ridh...
...What the police tell the people, by word and by deed, the people believe about their government...
...vlhen violence or mob rule threaten order and the rule of law, progress slows to a halt...
...The needs are acute...
...Change and its consequences are not new problems to you or your governments...
...are confident that you will succeed...
...As agents of order and change, your opportunities will be challenging, your responsibility will be immense...
...Tomorrow's success of today's graduates will be one measure of the impact of this Academy...
...We hope you will return home with a new determination to strengthen the conviction of your people that they have a stake in order ant in progressive change...
...Neither are these new problems to the Agency for International Development of whichll this Academy is a distinguished part...
...In your home countries you will be responsible for the law enforcement performance of many thousands of men anti women...
...To the man on the street, the police are the government...
...For the support of orderly change is the central responsibility of AID...
...The mission of the Agency's International Police Academy is to help law enforcement to contribute to the t.,k of development...
...An effective police force is the first line of defense against subversion and violence, but it is also the public's first point of contact with its leaders...
...In America and throughout the world many who are committed to social justice hear a different drummer than do those whose overriding interest is stability...
...There is friction between the desire for order anti the determination to win equal opportunity...
...The progress of development is seldom smoothly...
...They can help to shift dissatisfaction from the barricade to the ballot...
...We believe it is doing so...
...if the police are ineffective, government will seem weak...
...It will be your responsibility, when you return to your own countries, to pass on what you have learned to your colleagues and subordinates...
...When the police are competent and compassionate, their government is efficient anti humane...
...If the police are arrogant, their government will seem oppressive...
...Today, disadva.ntaged people everywhere know full well that there is nothing predetermined about hunger, disease, illiteracy and hopelessness...
...Change does not occur because leaders decide on it as a matter of policy...
...Twenty years ago, in historic Point IV of President Truman's Inaugural Address, the United States responded to this determination...
...When'the police are fair, the government is just...
...They are determined to encourage change...
...The number of graduates from the Academy is about to reach a total of three thousand persons...
...As with all AID participant training programs, your work at the Academy is only the beginning-the commencement...
...as published in Police, May-June, 1970) You, the members of the Academy class of July 1969, have also learned that in these days the status of the law anti its enforcement raise questions not only in your home countries, but also in this country...
...They can contain those who are bent on turning disappointment into destruction...
...The police can help to keep legitimate opposition from degenerating into subversion and violence...
...Today, American foreign aid focuses sharply on the changes which men must make in their lives and their communities if their nations are to achieve development...
...We hope that your work here will help you to reach new peaks of success...
...In a single generation, the world has changetl-growll cosnpact...
...A bold new program was launched to make "the benefits ot our scientific advances and in-dustrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped countries...
...These days, in most of the nations to which the members of this graduating class will return, change clearly is the law of life...
...They want better lives for themselves and their children...
...ertainly, the developing nations are not experiencing change because the Agency for International Development or the United States have decreed it...
...We ignore it only at our peril...
...Expectations inspire not only achievement, but disappointment and frustration, and controversies may start over who gets what, and who gets to do what...
Vol. 4 • July 1970 • No. 4
