982 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

regret that I am unable to join you today. While I am not able to
greet you in person, I am very much with you in spirit and hail this
Conference as the moment when Maryland begins its first great step
toward crime prevention.

There is a definite difference between the control of crime and its
prevention. Crime control is primarily a responsibility of police pro-
fessionals. Crime prevention depends on the cooperation of the pri-
vate citizen. To control crime requires good planning, good equip-
ment and good police personnel. To prevent crime is infinitely more
difficult for it requires improvements in both attitude and environ-
ment.

Effective law enforcement depends on the cooperative efforts of
police, prosecutors, judges, prison and parole board administrators.
Each is a link in a single chain and no chain is stronger than its
weakest link. Over the past two years, this administration has been
dedicated to strengthening and perfecting that chain. We have pro-
vided the first system of State financial aid to local law enforcement
agencies in the entire nation. Under the direction of a new Com-
missioner of Corrections, we are launching a systematic reform within
our State prisons. Maryland's Commission on Law Enforcement and
the Administration of Justice has developed a comprehensive, state-
wide crime control plan which may well become the model for all
the forty-nine other states to follow. These are but the highlights
of our progress; only time prevents me from citing the many other
substantial steps forward.

Yet all this action goes to point up one fact — government cannot
wage the war on crime alone. We do not live in a vacuum. We can-
not work in a vacuum. Our success depends on the good will and
imaginative cooperation of the private sector. The citizen and not
the policeman must ultimately create the atmosphere most conducive
to crime prevention.

This is why all of you have been invited here today. You are repre-
sentatives from the broad spectrum of Maryland leadership. Your
interest and ability in building a better community are recognized
and appreciated. We have asked you here to divert some of your
time and talent to the development of a crime prevention program.

Right now the problems surrounding the escalating crime rate ap-
pear infinite, while the public resources to wage a war against crime
are clearly finite. By enlisting you, we expand our resources and ex-
tend our horizons. With your aid, we may take that great step for-