[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[May 15, 1992]
[Pages 772-773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Ceremony

May 15, 1992
    Thank you, Cyndi, very much. Thank you all. Cyndi, thank you. And 
may I salute our Attorney General who is doing an outstanding job for 
law enforcement, Bill Barr; the Members of Congress who are with us 
today; Adolph South; an old friend, Dewey Stokes; John Walsh; Suzie 
Sawyer; Barbara Dodge; Dave Derevere.
    Ten years ago the FOP auxiliary began this nationally recognized 
service for law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of 
duty, and I salute you from the bottom of my heart. It is an honor to be 
with all of you to mark a day that celebrates America's finest.
    Police work has been described as a thankless job. Well, I am here 
to say thank you on behalf of each American. We need you. We depend on 
you, and we cannot do without you. Yours is the priceless task of 
upholding good against evil. All of us saw sickening sights in Los 
Angeles of criminals breaking windows and burning buildings and looting 
businesses. But even worse was the looting of something harder to 
replace than merchandise, the stealing of something precious, stealing 
hope, promise, the future. This we cannot allow.
    You know better than anyone, it is not just a privilege to support 
our law enforcement officers. Standing in Mount Zion Church right in the 
heart of south central L.A. just a few days ago, I spoke out there in 
support of law enforcement, and the place erupted into spontaneous 
applause. The people were applauding, those most severely affected--but 
those were the ones that were doing this--were most severely affected by 
the rioting and by the looting, and they were supporting the police 
officers. And that's the way it should be.
    So, today I pledge this to you, to that thin blue line that 
separates good people from the worst instincts of our society, I pledge 
my continuing and full support. We must show less compassion for the 
criminal and more for the victims of crime. That is why we reauthorized 
the 1984 Victims of Crime Act and boosted its annual crime victims 
compensation assistance fund to $150 million. These dollars did not come 
from the

[[Page 773]]

taxpayers but from the criminals' fines and penalties. After all, crime 
should not pay; the criminals themselves should. And my administration 
has also acted to punish the hardened criminals, career criminals, under 
the Federal Armed Career Criminal Act. No seasoned criminal should walk 
free because we didn't take the law and our law enforcement officers 
seriously.
    We have proposed $15 billion for anticrime policies for fiscal year 
1993, and that is up 59 percent in 4 years. We started Project 
Triggerlock and already thousands of gun-toting criminals have been 
charged, with a conviction rate of nearly 90 percent. And yet progress 
made is not mission accomplished. And so today I again call on the 
Congress to get with it and to pass our crime legislation. Let us back 
up our law enforcement officials with laws that are fair, that are fast, 
and that are final.
    For more than 3 years I've asked Congress to pass a comprehensive 
crime package based on three simple principles: If criminals commit 
crimes, they will be caught; if caught, they will be tried; and if 
convicted, they will be punished. We need a crime bill which 
strengthens, not weakens, your ability to uphold our laws. And so I 
again appeal to the United States Congress: Send me a tough crime bill, 
one that will not weaken current law, one like the ``Crime Control Act 
of 1992,'' and I will sign it right away.
    Let me take this opportunity to salute organizations like COPS, that 
Concerns of Police Survivors, who provide aid when it is most needed. 
COPS was founded in 1984 to have survivors help other survivors, and 
today they help 5,000 families nationwide as Good Samaritans to those 
who have lost a loved one.
    Another Good Samaritan can be found right up here on our stage 
today. I'm talking about John Walsh, host of television's ``America's 
Most Wanted.'' Last Friday, the show celebrated its 200th capture of a 
fugitive of the law. Sadly, John knows firsthand about the horrors that 
crime can inflict upon parents and families and communities. His little 
boy, Adam, was abducted and murdered, and the killer has never been 
found. John could have shut himself off from the world. Instead he 
started ``America's Most Wanted,'' a show that helps law enforcement 
officers bring criminals to justice. John, we salute both what you are 
and what you do. Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
    Let me close on a personal note. Some have called the Presidency the 
world's toughest job. Well, I think they're wrong. I believe police 
officers have the toughest job. Police work is not 9 to 5; it's full 
time. It is danger. It is fear. It is not knowing whether you will end 
your shift going home in a car or to the emergency room in an ambulance. 
It's populated by people willing to risk their lives to save ours, 
people who are part social worker and part soldier. It's a job that I 
sum up in two words: American hero.
    Every day of every year you risk your lives so that Americans can 
proceed with theirs. You truly show what the Bible meant, ``Greater love 
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'' I 
still have with me this badge. This is the badge of a fallen police 
officer, a New York cop that many of you all knew, Eddie Byrne. I keep 
it right there in my desk in the Oval Office. It's there every single 
day to remind me of this Nation's debt to those who serve. I will never 
forget, nor will our Nation.
    Thank you for what you do for our country. May God bless each and 
every one of you officers, and especially may God bless those families 
who have lost loved ones as those loved ones served our great Nation. 
Thank you all very, very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. at the 
                        Sylvan Theater. In his remarks, he referred to 
                        Cyndi Calendar, auxiliary president, Fraternal 
                        Order of Police; Adolph South, chaplain, 
                        National Fraternal Order of Police; Dewey 
                        Stokes, president, Grand Lodge Fraternal Order 
                        of Police; Suzie Sawyer, founder, and Barbara 
                        Dodge, president, Concerns of Police Survivors; 
                        and Dave Derevere, International Police 
                        Chaplains.