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Office Mem. ‘andum * UNITED Si IES GOVERNMENT TO : Mr. Tolson pate: August 6, 1958 Tolson ——_— FROM : J. P. Mohr susjectr: UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING - caLtFORNN Cig pete - Under date of July 21, 1958, the Director wrotéate ter to Attorney General Edmund G:~Brown of California as a result of an article which appeared in the San Francisco Examiner of July 16, 1958, captioned; 1"EBI Crime Report Unfair, Brown Says. A tickler copy of our memorandum dated July 18 and the letter to Brown are enclosed. Our letter to Attorney General Brown was also based on a letter to the editor of Time Magazine by Bern M-Macobson of the Law snr Spbacke Section of the Attorney General's Office, which letter Chief. illiam He’ arker of the Los Angeles Police Department. made public. J acobson took issue with Time Magazine and was critical of our uniform crime reporting program as well as law enforcement agencies outside of California. We sent a cursory letter to Jacobson enclosing a copy of the Director's letter to Time Magazine and Jacobson sent in a bare acknowledgement. There is enclosed a communication from Attorney General Brown dated July 31, 1958, in answer to the Director's letter to him of July 21, 1958. :| Brown's letter indicates he knows little about crime reporting or he is deliberately j attempting to distort the issue. He cites the fact that Senator Knowland has been quoted in California papers as saying that FBI statistics show an increased crime \ rate of 77% in California from 1950 to 1957. He then says, "Of course for this increas lam blamed. As a chief law enforcement officer yourself, I believe that such a yt statement is as unfair as if you are held responsible for the national crime increase." Brown enclosed a copy of his press release dated July 16, 1958, which precipitated _' the headline story in the San Francisco Examiner to the effect that "FBI Crime : Reporting Unfair."* He also encloses copies of three newspaper clippings. - On page 2 of his letter, Brown states, "You may wish to clarify the quoted figures of the Senator (Knowland), in view of his statement in the Cally, Bulletin that he got the figures from the FBI. Rec- 59 bye oi fo 4 wen fee soe - al $ , ; : \o1 C GaEEb=.: I strongly feel that we should not allow this statement of Brown's to go unchallenged. We feel that the attached letter should go forward to Brown which clearly and simply cites the facts and Jeaves the only-source that , law enforcement agencies in California. A Jee an - 2 a Ld . . «. + . . n . ANOS ‘ : Enclosures ws 1088 or JPM:ake (4) 1- Mr. Nease 1 b7C.