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Socnratng octet eeremttee dlc 7 Comment FOR many months the American public has been treated to hair-raising drome through the courtesy of « government * agency. The curtain raiser has filled many foscinafing news gency. segments on television and in the other media, The drama has olf the intrigue of a Jomes Bond movie. The actors are government employees and the broad outlines of the sctipt were prepared by a government agency. The dramatic series is titled ABSCAM. The production was the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The plot was simple. Dangle cash before elected officials to test whether o $50,000 payoff will secure some promise of political favor. The soap opera involved the rental of @ swank Washington, D.C., home elaborately equipped with secret comeras and recosding devices, luxuri- ous hotel suites, o plush 62-foot yacht and on extensive cast including about 100 FBI agents. The results were anything but complimentary to Congress er comforting ts the public which chose certoin officials. The felevised scenes of congressmen stuffing maney inte their pockets and ysing a vocabulary characteristic of X-rated mavies was not edifying, It certainly dramatized the danger of electing officials on the basis of charisma and promises rather than on character and performance. But the entire ASSCAM operation raises serious questions. Should the FBI pour its resources into such an effort? Are there more pressing prisrities? Is the whole idea of devising honesty tests for officiols and citizens good policy? Does the gome approach official entrapment? The FBI is responsible for enforcing federal laws. It has 7,800 special agents and operates on o budget approaching $1 billion. Under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover FBI emphasis was ‘on espionage, bank robberies and organized crime. Since William H, Webster become bureau chief in 1976 ithas given prominence to so-talted white-collar crime, ABSCAM was part of this new offensive. But while the FBI was focusing its energies on ABSCAM the sountry experienced the sharpest rise in crime in four years. The latest annual statistics released by the agency show that crime rose by 9.1%, Violent crime was up 11%. Forcible rape incroosed by 14.2%; robbery by 12%; aggravated assault by 10.3%; and murder by 9.3%. At the some time arrests for such crimes failed to keep up with the tise in crime statistics, Atrests increased by only 3%. No arrests were made in 75% of the robberies; 96% of the motor vehicle thefts; 8556 of the burglaries; 81% of the larceny thefts; $2% of the forcible rapes; 41% of the aggravated assaults; and 27% of the murders, The rising crime rate is anything but encouraging. A recent report on crime sponsored by A-T-O Inc. painted a gloomy picture of a U.S, citizenry porclyzed by fear. The study was based on interviews with more than 1,000 randomly selected people. The fear of crime is alarmingly pervasive, affecting the young and the ald, the poor and the affluent, men and women, the rural ond the urban. This pervasive fear is changing the American people from an open, gracious and Generous society inte @ closed, distrustful and constricted society, according to the study. (3- 1505 rene 2. Do we want a Federal . Bureau of Instigation? In view of the alarming increase in violent crime and the dreadful effect this is having on society, why does the official federal agency instituted fo fight crime spend its resources on ABSCAM escapades? Sheuld the bureau instigate os well os investigate crime? U.S, District Court Judge John P,Fullom has said "Nol" to the lost question and has overtumed the conviction of two ABSCAM victims. Two members of the Philadelphia City Council were found guilty of extortion by a federal jury. But Fullam, who presided at the trial, reviewed the verdict and overiumed it. He declared the FBI had overstepped the bounds of propriety. “The evidence establishes entrapment,” he stoted. “No ene who has viewed the videotaped evidence in this cose would avoid feelings of distress and disgust at the crass behaviar the tapes revealed, The jury's verdict represenis a natural human reaction to that evidence. “But, in the long run, the rights of all citizens not to be led into eriminal activity by governmental overreaching will temain secure only so fong as the courts stand ready te vindicate those rights in every case.” Whether or not the judge’s decision will be sustained on sppeal remains a question. Some current instructions to the jury define entrapment es. on instance in which low- enforcement officers have “induced or persuaded on unwill- ing person ta cammit an volawtul act.” But these instructions alse point out that “where a person is predisposed fo commit an offense — that is, ready and willing to violate the law —the fart that government agents merely afford on opper- tunity for him ta do sa does not constitute entrapment." The whole question ef tempting people inte crime is fouchy. One paint is how big should the temptation be. in ASSCAM the cash bait apparently was limited te $50,000. And some individvals indeed refused the bait. But suppose it were raised fo $100,000. Then to $500,006. Then te $1 million, Perhaps to $10 million. An old maxim says: Ifa man resisis tempiation it generally is not because he is strong but because the temptation is weak. 1s it really in the public interest for the government to run a testing lab to see how much temptation citizens can withstand? De we want a Federal Bureav of instigation? Another delicate issue is whe should be selected for the government temptation fests. The FBE insists that the ABSCAM victims fell naturally into its net because they had underground reputations for accepting bribes. But once the enticement patiern is set it easily could be steered foward political opponents. This has become the standard procedure in totalitarian regimes. Temptation started in the Garden of Eden when Satan dongled the “oppie of knowledge” before Eve. in the Lord's prayer Christians plead with their Heavenly Father not te be fed info tempiation. ft would seem that o government, allegedly concerned with human rights, could grant citizens the same favor and not dangle before them the alluring apple conceived by the evil genius of heil. coLumpta