Editing John N. Mitchell (section)

===Public safety===
From the outset, Mitchell strove to suppress what many Americans saw as major threats to their safety: urban crime, black unrest, and war resistance. He called for the use of [[No-knock warrant|"no-knock" warrants]] for police to enter homes, [[frisking]] suspects without a warrant, [[Telephone tapping|wiretapping]], [[preventive detention]], the use of federal troops to repress crime in the capital, a restructured Supreme Court, and a slowdown in school desegregation. "This country is going so far to the right you won't recognize it," he told a reporter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/obituaries/john-n-mitchell-dies-at-75-major-figure-in-watergate.html|title=John N. Mitchell Dies at 75; Major Figure in Watergate|date=November 10, 1988|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

There had been national outrage over the 1969 burning [[Cuyahoga River]]. President Nixon had signed the National Environmental Policy Act on New Year's Day in 1970, establishing the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA).  Nixon appointed [[William Ruckelshaus]] to head the agency, which opened its doors December 2, 1970. Mitchell gave a Press Conference  December 18, 1970: “I would like to call attention to an area of activity that we have not publicly emphasized lately, but which I feel, because of the changing events, deserves your attention. I refer to the pollution control litigation, with particular reference to our work with the new Environmental Protection Agency, now headed by William Ruckelshaus.&nbsp; As in the case of other government departments and agencies, EPA refers civil and criminal suits to the Department of Justice, which determines whether there is a base for prosecution and of course, if we find it so, we proceed with court action.... And today, I would like to announce that we are filing suit this morning against the [[Jones and Laughlin Steel Company|Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation]] for discharging substantial quantities of cyanide into the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland. Mr. Ruckelshaus has said, when he asked the Department to file this suit, that the 180-day notice filed against the company had expired. We are filing a civil suit to seek immediate injunctive relief under the Refuse Act of 1899 and the Federal Water Pollution Act to halt the discharge of these deleterious materials into the river.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2011/08/23/12-18-1970.pdf|title=Press Conference Attorney John Mitchell 12-18-1970}}</ref>