ASNE - Ashcroft says government needs help from citizens

Published Thursday, April 5, 2001
Ashcroft says government needs help from citizens

BY JASON BEGAY
ASNE Reporter

Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke to editors Wednesday, questioning the media’s responsibility in covering incidents of violence such as school shootings and other occurrences that are followed by copycat crimes. (Willie J. Allen/ASNE Reporter)

America is going to require more than the help of “all the president’s men,” to create a safer society, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said at an ASNE luncheon on Wednesday.

During his 30-minute speech, Mr. Ashcroft presented three issues that his department is going to focus on. Specifically, he addressed implementing gun control, curbing drug use and ending the law enforcement practice of racial profiling.

Using a metaphor of the nursery rhyme, “Humpty Dumpty,” Mr. Ashcroft said the federal government could use help from the people it serves. “The government’s resources are not enough to repair us,” he said, comparing those resources to “all the king’s men.”

We need to welcome every quarter of response,” Mr. Ashcroft said. “We need to elicit the participation and the help of a lot of others.” Specifically, he said all of America – from families to industries – should work to improve communities.

Gun-control efforts such as “Virginia Exile” have proven effective, Mr. Ashcroft said.

“You shouldn’t have to move to live in a safe neighborhood,” he said.
Drug use is another issue he swore to tackle in the beginning of his administration.

“It’s permeating enormously,” Mr. Ashcroft said. “It’s not bound by social class or geography.”

Drug use remains a constant threat because it could lead to increased crimes, particularly robbery, which can be “motivated by the need of money to secure drugs,” he said.

Mr. Ashcroft’s third priority is to create a more approachable relationship between citizens and law enforcement.

He said he wants “all members of our culture to realize that the law was designed to protect them, and that the law can reach them if they choose to violate those laws.”

Racial profiling is one of the issues that Mr. Ashcroft specifically referred to in dealing with law enforcement gone awry.
“Too often – and one time is too often – people are stopped because they are driving while black,” he said.

Mr. Ashcroft said he plans to implement training programs aimed at reducing racial profiling for officers at the federal level.

Throughout the remainder of his speech, Mr. Ashcroft stressed the responsibility of American society to create a safer country.

Mr. Ashcroft referred to the rash of school shootings in the country in recent years, saying the incidents might be the result of many influences – from news media-influenced copycats to violent video games.

“Out of 22.3 million children between the ages of 12 and 17, nine million of them have witnessed some type of serious violence,” Mr. Ashcroft said.

He also said the business sector could play a part in improving society.

For instance, the rating system placed on video games was implemented to reduce children’s exposure to violence.
“Newspaper editors can write an editorial praising a local retailer,” who enforces these rating restrictions, Mr. Ashcroft said.