[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,

[[Page 688]]

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

[[Page 689]]

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

[[Page 690]]

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.