    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [June 8, 1995]
    [Pages 831-833]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Swearing-In Ceremony for Officers Hired Under
    Community Oriented Policing Grants
    June 8, 1995

        Thank you, Attorney General Reno, for your outstanding work. Thank
    you, Mayor Rendell, Senator Biden, Senator Kennedy, Senator Kerry,
    Congressman Foglietta, ladies and gentlemen from all across our country
    who are here today.
        These 263 new police officers are living proof that our crime bill
    will help to make your communities safer and help to make America safer.
    I want to thank the Attorney General for the work she has done to cut
    through the redtape and the bureaucracy to turn the crime bill into a
    reality. The Congress passed it, and I did push hard for it. But in no
    small measure because of the Attorney General and the dedicated people
    at the Justice Department, we have already awarded almost 17,000 new
    police officers to over half the police departments in the United
    States. We are under budget and ahead of schedule.
        And most important, I want to thank all of you who are with us today
    who are dedicating your lives to law enforcement. I know I speak for all
    Americans when I say thank you.
        I want to take a moment, if I might, to speak about another person
    to whom we all want to say thank you today, an American hero who risked
    his life and service to our country. I know all of you and all of our
    fellow citizens join me in rejoicing at the rescue of Captain Scott
    O'Grady late last night. We share the relief of his family, his friends,
    and his loved ones that he is now safe and sound. I can tell you that
    he's now on a United States aircraft carrier, and we're looking forward
    to having him back home on American soil. His bravery in the face of
    great danger and uncertainty is an inspiration to all of us. I can tell
    you, having followed this almost hour by hour for the last 6 days, when
    he gets back here and tells the whole story, it will be an astonishing
    story, indeed. He was well-trained and well-prepared, but he also rose
    to an extraordinary challenge. I also want to say how very proud I am of
    the skill of all of those who took part in the operation to rescue him
    and those who supported them.
        Yesterday evening, when it became clear that Captain O'Grady had
    been located in general and that a rescue operation was possible and we
    began to get regular reports and then it became obvious that he could be
    rescued but that the group could not get in and out before daylight in
    Bosnia, there was no doubt in the minds of either the commanders or our
    people in uniform that even though that entailed some increased risk,
    they had to go and get him out, that he had survived for 6 days, and 6
    days was long enough. And they did their job.
        And last night, when I talked to Captain O'Grady's parents after 1
    o'clock in the morning, they and all of his siblings were full of joy
    and pride and gratitude. Let me tell you that they proved once again,
    all these people, that our country has the finest Armed Forces in the
    world. And we are very, very proud of them and ecstatically happy today.
        I want to say to all of you here in uniform, you, too, are our
    country's heroes. Each and every one of you will make our streets a
    little safer, at more risk to yourselves. There is nothing more
    effective in the fight against crime than more police officers on the
    beat. This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue on which all
    Americans can be on the solution side.
        We know that we owe it to our children to give them back the freedom
    to walk to school in safety. I have said this before, and I want to say
    it one more time: I intend to keep my promise to the American people to
    put 100,000 more of you on the streets. And I will fight and veto, if
    necessary, any attempt to stop us until there are 100,000 of you out
    there protecting the American people.
        We need more police on the street. We need to get our children and
    our assault weapons off the streets. Our neighborhoods are not a place
    for military assault weapons, violent crimi-

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    nals, or gangs. In recent months, we have seen all too clearly that
    keeping our country safe and secure requires new efforts by both our
    Government and our people.
        The crime bill provides law enforcement the tools they ask for.
    After the tragedy in Oklahoma City and what we endured in the World
    Trade Center, law enforcement needs additional tools to crack down on
    terrorists wherever they may come from, from within or beyond our
    borders.
        I am very pleased that last night the Senate passed my antiterrorism
    legislation. I thank Senator Dole and the Republicans who voted for it.
    I thank Senator Daschle and the Democrats who voted for it. I thank them
    for working together. That's what America expects us to do, after all.
        Now I want to urge the House of Representatives to act as quickly as
    possible. Some there have said maybe they ought to slow this up. Well, I
    assure you that the people who work in terrorism operate on their own
    timetable, and they will not pause for an extended debate in the United
    States Congress. So let this bill be reviewed. Let it be examined. That
    is the job of the legislative body. But let us act quickly. The safety
    and security of our people is not now and must never become a partisan
    issue.
        Now, let me say one other thing. The budget passed in the House of
    Representatives, as distinct from the one passed in the Senate, reduces
    the crime bill by about $5 billion. We do need to cut spending further.
    We can move toward a balanced budget. But I don't think that is a good
    idea.
        The crime bill was carefully balanced. It was worked on for 6 years.
    Senator Biden gave a major portion of his entire life's energy to it.
    And it was calibrated to fight crime in several ways: It had more
    police, more punishment, more prisons, and more prevention. And it had
    all those elements because the law enforcement community told us that we
    need to have those elements. I believe as strongly as I can say that we
    can continue to reduce the deficit, we can balance the budget without
    undermining the crime bill. And that is exactly what we ought to do.
        In the next few months, as we get into this budget debate and we
    argue about what to cut and where to spend, how soon we need to balance
    the budget, and what other objectives we need to pursue, I want to tell
    you that underneath all this there will be a huge debate that you will
    see played out in a lot of ways. And it's a debate that I strongly
    believe is a false one. Those who argue that we can cut anything except
    national defense, anything else at all to balance the budget as quickly
    as possible, basically believe that most of the problems of this country
    are cultural in nature, that if people would simply behave themselves
    and take responsibility for their own lives and tend to their families
    and show up for work everyday, we wouldn't have the problems we've got,
    and therefore it is not necessary to make these investments.
        Others will argue that the first responsibility of Government is law
    and order, that another responsibility of our Government in this time,
    with this global economy just beating the living daylights out of
    working Americans so that they never get a pay raise even though they
    work harder--there is a responsibility to help people make more of their
    own lives, to get the education and training they need to compete and
    win in a global economy.
        There are others who will argue that there are people who through no
    fault of their own, because they're very young children or elderly or
    disabled, cannot take care of themselves and deserve some support from
    our Government. And so you'll see this big argument, the cultural side
    and the economic and political side. I personally believe it's a phony
    argument.
        Now, I know from my own family's experience--I had a brother who was
    addicted to drugs and who did time because of that--I know that there is
    no program in the world that can make people do the right thing if
    they're not prepared to take responsibility for themselves. I am well
    aware of that. I know that.
        But I also know that unless we take responsibility collectively for
    doing what we can, we will have people killed on the streets that don't
    need to be killed. We will have young people who lose their futures who
    don't need to lose them. We will have people whose incomes never get
    better because we don't invest in them and give them a chance to
    succeed. We will hurt the elderly and the defenseless because we don't
    recognize our common responsibilities. We have cultural problems and
    economic and political challenges in this country, and we should not
    permit Washington to be divided over what is essentially a phony choice.
    Keep in mind, often when we talk about cultural problems up here,

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    we're looking for an excuse not to do our part and assume our
    responsibility.
        So let's say there are both kinds of challenges in America. Let's
    get everybody on the solution side of dealing with them. And don't you
    let for a minute anybody try to push you into one camp or another. Life
    is all about personal responsibility and our actions together as
    families, communities, and as a nation.
        Captain O'Grady triumphed because he was personally responsible,
    personally able, personally courageous. He also got the finest military
    training in the world from the United States of America. You will do
    well as police officers if you are personally dedicated, not to abusing
    your authority but to using it to the maximum extent to protect people
    and to stop crimes from occurring and to punishing people when they do
    commit crimes. But it matters if you're well-trained. It matters if
    you're well-supported. It matters if you're properly funded.
        Do not let America be divided over this debate. We have our
    responsibilities here in Washington. You have your responsibilities on
    the streets and in your own homes. If we all do our job, we can move
    America forward. If we get caught up in a bogus debate about whether our
    problems are cultural or economic and political, we will never get to
    the end of the road. They are both, and we must act that way.
        Let me just say one thing in closing. The crime rate is going down
    all over America. In most major cities the crime rate has dropped
    substantially in the last couple of years. A lot of that is because of
    able and visionary mayors like the mayors that we honor here today,
    because of the reforms that have been undertaken in cities, like those
    that I saw when Mayor Rendell and I walked in his neighborhood streets
    in 1992 and as I have done since then in the city of Philadelphia.
        But let's don't forget one thing: The crime rate, especially random
    violence among very young people, is still going up, which means that
    the long-run battle to recover our children and to turn them away from
    mindless violence and to protect those who are not violent from that is
    still hanging in the balance.
        So I honor you today for your contribution. I tell you that for the
    next 10 years, you may be involved in the most important national
    security battle in the United States. And I ask you when you go home to
    ask every single citizen in your communities to help you win this fight.
    It is truly the fight for America's future.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:07 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Edward Rendell of
    Philadelphia, PA.