Vern Countryman, professor of Law, told a conference on the Federal Bureau of investigation at Princeton University Saturday that the FBI should limit the scope of its intelligence activities.

Countryman said the FBI "should be confined to the enforcing of criminal statutes" and halt its compiling of intelligence dossiers on political activities and figures. The New York Times reported Sunday.

Asked by Frank G. Carrington, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, whether he would prefer to have people killed in a bombing over having an FBI informer in a political group, Countryman replied, "There are worse things than having some person killed--(for example) having a whole society intimidated."

The Times described Carrington as a "patently pro-FBI participant at the conference."

Duane Lockard, chairman of Princeton's Politics Department, advocated "a national commission of inquiry" to help decide "where to draw the line between the Bureau's crime enforcement functions and its role in political surveillance."

Countryman could not be reached last night for further comment.