‘Utah law enforcement ae pelvell: deserved national the capture of two agencies re= attention | for | young men at the end of a sordid 15-day circuit of TORRE, | assault and murder. | e: This commendable effort, however, was. : abruptly. cancelled when the officers con- cerned engineered a circus type “press conference” for the two hardened criminals that was repugnant to aety lees | ful citizen, The maudlin | spectacle of the con-_ fessed murder pair smirking into the cameras while their captors. approvingly | stood in the background lending them-| selves to the outrageous display. of sordid publicity provided an exhibition enforcement THE at its worst. of Jaw : : OFFICERS | eesopher that ‘the | “press conference,” complete with reporters, photographers, radio commentators| and TV. cameramen, was staged in the - Salt Lake County Jail Monday at the reN quest of the brutal killers. co iianye including law enforcement offi- cers, have criticized the over-emphasis on _ crime and violence on television. It glam-orizes: crime and violence some impressionable in the eyes of viewers, it is con- tended, and leads them to regard vicious | robbery, assault, sexual attack and murder as thrilling and even natural conduct—and certainly a sure way of getting one into the limelight. | | - Obviously a criminal foray as shocking as this one is bound to be in the news. And it should be. | -.But the spotlight should be on the crime, not the criminals; and the emphasis should be on the sordidness and ea | not the glamour. Law enforcement officers and agencies should seek acclaim and recognition for their achievements in the area of police business, not show business. | _ And those in show business would do well to restrict their hero-making to subjects other than bandits, and murderers. |