[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[June 25, 1991]
[Pages 721-722]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Luncheon Meeting With Law Enforcement Officials
June 25, 1991

    Well, let me just say it's a pleasure to be here with the heads of 
all our Federal law enforcement agencies. We'll be taking a little 
lunch, talking over the issues of concern to the various departments.
    But let me just say a word about our crime bill. By now, certainly 
all of you are familiar with this 100-day challenge that I threw down to 
the Congress to act on the bill. That was now 106 days ago. And we sent 
our comprehensive crime bill up to the Congress 106 days ago, and the 
Senate started debating provisions of the legislation just last 
Thursday. The House has given absolutely no indication that they plan to 
act soon.
    Our bill, in my view, would help fight violent crime, assist our law 
enforcement officials by relieving many of the frustrations of the 
current system. There will be no more delays, no more abuse of the 
system through habeas corpus petitions. It has penalties for those who 
use a firearm in the commission of a crime. They're the ones we ought to 
go after.
    We also propose reforming the exclusionary rule to permit the 
admission of evidence that has been seized in good faith. And a 
meaningful Federal death penalty--everyone's familiar with that and our 
position on that.
    But my view is, the American people simply are tired of watching 
hoodlums walk, of seeing criminals mock our justice system with these 
endless technicalities. They want to bring order to the streets that

[[Page 722]]

are shaken by chaos and crime--the people do. And yet, for more than 2 
years Congress has failed to act on our proposals--good, solid 
proposals--to fight crime and to strengthen the rule of law.
    So, we've got to wait and see what the final product will look like. 
I'm simply not going to sign just any bill, just call it an anticrime 
bill. And I will not sign any bill, frankly, that handcuffs our law 
enforcement people, our police, and that demoralizes the law enforcement 
community.
    Now we just got word, however, this morning--another disappointment, 
I might say--but the Senate declined to adopt our exclusionary rule 
provision. Our proposal would have extended what they call a good faith 
exception of the exclusionary rule to warrant searches. This means that 
the evidence of serious crimes will be excluded at trial now because the 
officer did not have a warrant, even where the officer believes in good 
faith that no warrant was necessary.
    So, as troubling as this is, what is worse is that the Biden 
exclusionary rule proposal remains in the bill. And although Senator 
Biden attempted to codify current case law, our view is that his 
language would actually make it harder to get evidence admitted as it 
does current law.
    So, I hope the Senate will take a new look at these provisions. I 
hope that Congress or the House side of that Congress will act, and I 
can guarantee all of you who are giving a lot of your lives--and your 
people are--to law enforcement that the American people are with us in 
this; they want these things done. And I'm having great difficulty 
getting it through the Congress, so I hope the American people will 
speak up and let the Congress know that this kind of strong anticrime 
legislation has their support. We need some action.
    It's a pleasure.

                    Note: The President spoke at 12:14 p.m. in the 
                        Roosevelt Room at the White House. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Senator Joseph R. Biden, 
                        Jr. A tape was not available for verification of 
                        the content of these remarks.