    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [May 15, 1995]
    [Pages 687-690]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Peace Officers Memorial Service
    May 15, 1995

        Thank you very much. Thank you, Dewey Stokes, for your kind
    introduction, for your stirring call to continued vigilance in the cause
    of law enforcement, and for your 8 years of fine leadership of the FOP.
    I have enjoyed working with you, and I know that I speak for all law
    enforcement, and indeed, all Americans who know anything about what has
    been done in this town in the last 8 years to fight for more sensible
    and more peaceful laws for our people,

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    when I thank you for 8 years of service and congratulate you on what you
    have done. Thank you, Karen Lippe, for what you said. Attorney General
    Reno; Secretary Rubin; Senator Biden; Congressman Lightfoot; I see
    Senator Thurmond and Congressman Ramstad out in the audience--there may
    be others; members of the law enforcement community in the United States
    and their family members; and most especially to the fine families whom
    we honor here today for the awful losses they have sustained.
        I am proud to be with you here today to honor the 157 men and women
    who died for their country, for law, for order, for peace and freedom
    last year. They will long be remembered for their service to our
    communities, to their families, and to the Nation. They were in every
    sense American heroes.
        Just before I came out here I had the privilege of meeting with the
    family of Hank Daly, who was gunned down in Washington last November by
    a man who brought an assault weapon to the station house. To the Daly
    family and to all the families who are here, I say a profound thank you.
        Today we pay tribute not only to those who died but to the families
    and friends who lost them and to the fellow officers who carry on the
    work that they did. We are here as well to carry on that work, to ensure
    that we live in a nation that is safe, just, and free.
        Freedom has endured in this country for more than 200 years now
    because we have always recognized that we cannot have liberty without
    responsibility. If we are going to preserve the enormous freedom we have
    in America, the freedom to speak, the freedom to assemble, the freedom
    to bear arms, then all Americans must join in and join you and recognize
    that we cannot preserve the freedoms without responsibility.
        If we aren't safe in our homes at night, if our children aren't safe
    as they go to and from school, if our parents and grandparents are
    afraid to leave their apartments, if our shopkeepers are afraid to go to
    work and stay there, if our police officers have to live in mortal fear
    every single day, then to that extent, my fellow Americans, we are not
    free. And it is not enough for citizens to say, ``Fighting crime is the
    Government's job, and as long as I'm not violating the law, I have
    utterly no responsibility to help. I'll oppose any reasonable law
    enforcement measure I don't like. I will go about my business. I have no
    responsibility.'' Neither is it enough for people in Government to say,
    ``We've gone so far; we can't go any further. Until our people, our
    culture, our values change, we'll just be too lawless and too violent.''
        My friends, violence in America cannot pose a choice between
    individual responsibility and social responsibility. The level of
    violence and crime, the death we mourn and honor today demands more of
    both.
        Government's first responsibility is law and order, to prevent
    crime, to punish criminals, to give you in law enforcement the tools you
    need to do both. That is why I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder
    with you last year to pass the crime bill and the Brady bill before it.
    The FOP and every major organization of law enforcement in our country
    supported and fought for those measures.
        The crime bill, as Dewey said, will put 100,000 more police officers
    on our streets, prevent crime, and toughen sentences. And it will make
    clear, as Dewey called for, that anyone who murders a law enforcement
    officer from now on will face the death penalty.
        Police officers like you engaged in community policing are the
    single best way to fight crime and to prevent it. I will not stand for
    any attempt to undermine our common efforts to put 100,000 more police
    officers on the street. I will not allow you to be outnumbered or to be
    outgunned. The Brady bill was the right thing to do. And it is saving
    lives in America today. The people who are against you and would not
    support you were wrong. We have evidence you were right, and we must
    stand with you.
        And you asked us to ban deadly assault weapons for a reason. You
    were tired of seeing criminals like drug dealers use weapons of war to
    gun down police officers on our streets. We did that in a bill which
    also protected hundreds of sporting and hunting weapons. And because of
    the ban on assault weapons, every year from now on there will be fewer
    names on the memorial not far from here.
        We have also done a great deal to increase the partnership between
    national law enforcement and those at the State and local level. For
    that I thank the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury. I
    thank the Directors of the Secret Service and Alcohol, Tobacco and
    Firearms who are here and the FBI Director and all who have worked so
    hard so that we

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    could do our part to help you to keep America safer.
        But the guts of what we did was in the crime bill, the Brady bill,
    and the assault weapons ban. So when the NRA holds its annual meeting
    later this week, I want them to know they can pressure Congress all they
    want to try to repeal the assault weapons ban, but as long as I am
    President that ban will be the law of our land.
        I also agree with the fine letter that President Bush wrote just a
    few days ago. Law enforcement officers in this country deserve our
    respect and support. No one has the right to run them down or to suggest
    that somehow it is all right for them to be put in harm's way. That is
    not the American way, and anybody who does it ought to be ashamed of
    themselves.
        You never walk away from your responsibility. And your country is
    not about to walk away from you. If you're going to do your job on the
    streets, we all have to do a better job, not just here in Government but
    as citizens and parents. We have to do a better job knowing that we are
    raising children who understand that actions have consequences, who know
    the difference between right and wrong, who understand that they need to
    be part of a country and a community that looks out for them and gives
    them people to look up to, like all of you and all the men and women we
    honor today.
        The tragic bombing in Oklahoma City last month first unmasked the
    evil that humans are capable of. But the incredible response of the
    brave people of Oklahoma City and those who came from all over America
    to lend a hand also shows us that in this country of ours, in the end,
    good can prevail.
        Eight Federal law enforcement officials died in the line of duty in
    the Oklahoma City bombing. One of them, Al Whicher, a Secret Service
    agent who served on my security detail and President Bush's, had just
    recently moved to Oklahoma City, where we all thought he and his family
    would have a more regular and more relaxed life.
        I will never forget the look I saw this morning in Mrs. Daly's face
    when she said, ``I knew my husband was going to be in law enforcement,
    and I was proud of that. But I never expected this to happen to us.'' As
    I look across this sea of people wearing their corsages today, I'm sure
    that you never expected it to happen to you.
        Let me say, first of all to you, that I know this is a painful day
    for you. And I applaud your personal courage in enduring the pain to be
    here. But you have set an example for your country by being willing to
    be here. You have let America see you. And as long as America sees you,
    we will not be able to forget what our duty is to those whom you loved
    and all others who do that work. Thank you for your courage for being
    here.
        Here in Washington our duty is to bring the terrorists who committed
    the horrible act in Oklahoma City to justice. And we will do that. And
    we must do everything in our power to make sure such a tragedy never
    happens again. Because open societies all over the world are now more
    vulnerable to the organized forces of destruction and evil, whether they
    rise up from within our country or come here from without, we must do
    what we can to ensure that law enforcement has the tools to deal with
    this profound threat to our security and our way of life. I have sent
    Congress legislation that will do exactly that.
        Last month, in the wake of the Oklahoma City tragedy, congressional
    leaders promised that I would have the antiterrorism legislation on my
    desk by Memorial Day. Since then we have seen disturbing signs of the
    old politics of diversion and delay. This plays into the hands of those
    who would blame the law enforcement officers who keep the law, rather
    than the criminals who break it. We make a grave mistake in this
    country, my fellow Americans, when we confuse responsibility in that
    way. And we must not tolerate it.
        Come Friday, a month will have passed since the Oklahoma City
    bombing. Congress must act and act quickly. It would be a good way to
    honor the victims of Oklahoma City and the police officers we honor
    today if the Congress would say, ``This is not a political issue; this
    is an American issue. We're going into the next century with the tools
    to fight the kind of outrage we endured in Oklahoma City. And we are
    going to do it without delay.''
        My fellow Americans, we can win the fight against terrorism, and we
    can lower the crime rate in America. We can reduce the number of law
    enforcement officers we have to honor here every year. And we can reduce
    the number of innocent citizens who are killed, the number of innocent
    children who are deprived of the chance even to grow up. We can do this
    if

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    we will stand shoulder to shoulder, citizens and law enforcement, and do
    what we know works to lower the crime rate, catch criminals, and punish
    them appropriately. If every law-abiding citizen will raise a voice
    against crime and violence, that is the beginning of wisdom and
    progress.
        So I ask you all today, never forget that the overwhelming majority
    of people in this country honor you, value you, care for your welfare
    and the welfare of your families. But never forget, until our job is
    done we must live with the burning reminder of the heartbreak of the
    families here today, and we must do our duty. No turning back. And we
    must not let any group in this country say that they don't have
    responsibility for improved law enforcement and a lower crime rate, that
    they don't have a responsibility to help, that they can ignore what you
    know works to save lives and build a better future.
        You can be very proud of the progress which has been made in the
    last couple of years, not just here in Washington with the crime bill,
    the assault weapons ban, and the Brady law but on your streets, on your
    streets where in place after place the crime rate is declining. But we
    are a long way from home.
        The happiest day in the lives of people in law enforcement will be
    the day when we can come here and have not one single solitary
    heartbroken family to honor.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:49 p.m. at the West Front of the
    Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to Dewey Stokes, national
    president, Fraternal Order of Police, and Karen Lippe, president,
    Fraternal Order of Police Grand Lodge Auxiliary. The related
    proclamation designating Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police
    Week is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.