    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [January 15, 1998]
    [Pages 67-68]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Community Policing in Jamaica, New York
    January 15, 1998

        Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor,
    Commissioner, Congressman Nadler, Congresswoman Maloney,
    thank you for being here. And I want to thank our Associate Attorney
    General, Ray Fisher, for coming up with me
    today.
        Let me say that, first, I want to congratulate all the men and women
    in the police force in New York City, the ones who are standing behind
    me, the ones who are out there in the audience, and the ones who are out
    there on the beat. There has been an amazing turnaround in America's
    fight against crime in the last few years. It has basically been brought
    about with a new philosophy rooted in community police officers, better
    prevention, smarter and tougher punishment.
        The mayor and I have shared that
    philosophy. He and many others in both parties worked hard for the
    passage of the crime bill in 1994. And it was a fascinating debate I'll
    never forget as long as I live. Because the crime bill was essentially
    written by law enforcement officials--I see Tom nodding his head--grassroots law enforcement officials
    across America, there was an astonishing amount of unanimity about it
    among Republicans and Democrats at the grassroots level. The only
    political problems we had with the crime bill were those that were
    basically occasioned, frankly, by the NRA and others when we got to
    supplementing rhetoric over reality at the debate of the crime bill. But
    now the evidence is in, and we know who was right and who wasn't.
        The efforts embodied in the crime bill and the policies of cities
    all across America have brought the crime rate down to a 25-year low.
    That's an astonishing achievement. In the last 5 years alone, there's
    been a 22 percent drop in the murder rate nationwide, a 16 percent drop
    in the rate of violent crime. In neighborhoods where children couldn't
    walk to school alone, where elderly people double-locked themselves in
    their homes, people are beginning to feel confident and safe again. And
    community policing is at the heart of the new philosophy. It has done
    more to bring the crime rate down

    [[Page 68]]

    than anything else--the proper, wise deployment of police resources in a
    community fashion to prevent crime and to catch criminals.
        Since the crime bill passed, we've come a long way toward putting
    our goal of 100,000 police on the street. You heard the mayor say how
    many there were in New York City. We have to finish the job, however.
    We're about two-thirds of the way there, since 1994. We've funded about
    67,000 police officers.
        Today I'm pleased to announce that we are going to help New York
    City hire and deploy 1,600 more community police officers. With the new
    police officers, we now helped to fund more than 70,000 of the 100,000
    community police across America. And I want you to know we intend to
    keep going until we've got all 100,000 on the beat. We want to get it
    done ahead of schedule. In the big cities like New York where the
    problems of crime and drugs and guns once seemed absolutely
    insurmountable, real progress has been made.
        Now, there's still a lot to do. The mayor talked about the drug
    problem. Our budget coming up has more funds for drug education, drug
    prevention, and drug treatment. I issued an Executive order just a
    couple of days ago relating to drug treatment in the State
    penitentiaries of the country.
        The New York Times reported today that some cities, particularly
    smaller cities, are still struggling, cities that never felt the kind of
    problems you came to take for granted or at least--not for granted--at
    least a part of your daily life before, and perhaps aren't as well
    equipped as you are to handle them. We have more to do to clean up our
    cities, to get more guns and gangs and drugs off the streets, and more
    police officers on the streets. But if we keep going we'll get the job
    done.
        I'd also like to say, we all know that we have an unresolved problem
    with crime by young people, juveniles. While that rate seems to be
    dropping now, it has not gone down nearly as much as the overall crime
    rate. And I'm convinced we have to do more to deal with these young
    people in the hours where most of this crime is committed, which is
    after school but before their folks get home. We're committed to working
    hard with our cities to help to deal with that.
        So today is a good day. Hundreds of more police officers from New
    York City--it means a lower crime rate for a city that has proved that
    the police can do the job, given the kind of community support we need
    and the kind of farsighted policies that I think we have to pursue
    together as Americans.
        So thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner. Thanks to the Members
    of Congress. And my thanks to the people in the police department.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:05 p.m. in the press room in Port
    Authority Building #14 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner
    Howard Safir of New York City, and Thomas J. Scotto, president, National
    Association of Police Organizations. He also referred to his memorandum
    of January 12 on ending drug use and drug availability for offenders.