    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [May 12, 1999]
    [Pages 747-749]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing Proposed Anticrime Legislation
    May 12, 1999

        Thank you very much. Please be seated; and good afternoon. Madam
    Attorney General, Mr. Holder, Officer Hall, Senator
    Leahy, Congressman Stupak, Senator Biden, Senator
    Specter. There are now over 50 Members of
    Congress here, I think; at least that many had accepted to come. And we
    see our mayor there, Mayor Williams;
    Mayor Schmoke; Mayor Rendell, and other officials: Associate Attorney General
    Fisher; Treasury Under Secretary
    Enforcement Jim Johnson; and the Director
    of our COPS Office, Joe Brann. Ladies and
    gentlemen, thank you for being here today, and welcome.
        Five years ago this summer, after a remarkable effort in Congress
    which required, among other things, the breaking of an intense
    filibuster, with the support of many of the people here today, I was
    able to sign into law a crime bill that was the first of its kind: a
    comprehensive bill that funded local solutions to local problems and
    enhanced the promising practice of community policing; a bill that also
    banned assault weapons and demanded tougher punishment for the toughest
    criminals and provided innovative prevention strategies to keep our
    young people out of trouble in the first place.
        It was a crime bill that brought our laws into line with our oldest
    values, requiring all of us to take responsibility at every level of
    government and every community in America to prevent crime and protect
    our families. I'd like to say a special word of thanks to Senator
    Biden who is here today for his
    extraordinary efforts in what seems like, at once, a long time ago and
    only yesterday.
        Today we know that the strategy embodied in the crime bill, which
    was really written by local police officers and law enforcement
    officials, is working. The murder rate is down to its lowest level in 30
    years; violent crime has dropped 20 percent in the last 6 years alone;
    and in many smaller ways, reducing crimes like vandalism and littering
    that undermine the quality of life. We are beginning to repair the
    social fabric and restore civility to everyday life.
        There are many reasons for this success. The Brady bill has stopped
    over 250,000 illegal handgun sales to felons, fugitives, and stalkers.
    The

    [[Page 748]]

    assault weapons ban has helped; so have tougher penalties and the waning
    of the devastating crack epidemic.
        But police chiefs, politicians, and people on the street all agree
    that the most important factor has been community policing. After all,
    until the crime bill passed, the violent crime had tripled over the
    preceding 30 years, but the size of our police forces had increased by
    only 10 percent. Where police officers, therefore, used to cruise
    anonymously through the streets, now community police officers walk the
    beat and know the people in the neighborhoods, becoming involved in the
    lives of the people they protect and involving them in the fight against
    crime.
        Community policing has worked miracles in many of our cities, where
    violent crime once was out of control and law-abiding citizens
    mistrusted police often as much as they feared gangs. Now, in cities and
    communities all across America, residents work with police officers
    forming neighborhood watches, banding together against drug dealers,
    building connections that are the core of community life and the heart
    of civil society.
        When I signed the crime bill I pledged to help communities all over
    our Nation fund 100,000 community police officers by the year 2000.
    Today we are keeping the pledge.
        Since 1994, the COPS program has funded 99,000 new police officers,
    over half already on the beat. Today I am pleased to announce the latest
    COPS grants, over $96 million for nearly 1,500 police officers in more
    than 500 communities. This will bring us to over 100,000 community
    police officers funded, ahead of schedule and under budget. And I thank
    you for all of your efforts in that regard.
        In making America's thin blue line thicker and stronger, our Nation
    will be safer. But you and I know our job is far from finished. Last
    week I sent new legislation to Congress to close the loopholes in our
    gun laws, raise the age of handgun ownership to 21, hold adults liable
    for keeping, recklessly keeping guns and ammunition within the reach of
    children, and asking for background checks for the purchase of
    explosives.
        Today I will send to Congress a new crime bill for the 21st century,
    to advance our crime-fighting strategy in several respects and build on
    the successes of the 1994 crime act. We know what works, and we should
    make certain that those efforts continue and are expanded.
        We know, too, that crime is still too high in too many communities.
    And the next stage of our crime-fighting strategy must focus with
    renewed intensity on the high crime areas, to break the cycle of
    violence on our meanest streets. Finally, we know we face new threats as
    a result of the new technologies of the information age.
        So here's what the bill does. First, and most important, it expands
    the COPS program, helping communities to hire up to 50,000 more police
    officers, especially those hardest hit by crime. It will help them hire
    local prosecutors who work much as community police officers do in the
    neighborhoods where they can make the biggest difference. The bill will
    also give 21st century tools to our police officers to fight the
    criminals who, themselves, increasingly use technology to commit crimes
    and to avoid capture. The bill will provide grants to help communities
    encourage schools, faith-based groups, and citizens, themselves, in
    restoring peace to our neighborhood. School districts can use the grants
    for preventive efforts that will reduce the likelihood of tragic
    violence.
        The second thing the bill will do is to help steer young people away
    from crime and gangs by strengthening antitruancy and mentoring
    programs, by cracking down on gang members who intimidate witnesses.
        Third, the bill will help to break the cycle of crime and drugs.
    Three out of four people in the criminal justice system have drug
    problems. If we treat those drug problems, we can cut the crime rate
    dramatically. The bill says to prisoners, ``If you stay on drugs, you
    stay behind bars; to those on parole, if you want to keep your freedom,
    you must stay free of drugs.''
        Fourth, the crime bill will do more to protect our most vulnerable
    citizens. It will punish retirement rip-off artists, nursing home
    operators who abuse and neglect their residents, telemarketers who prey
    on older Americans. It will toughen penalties for people who commit
    violent crimes in the presence of children and reauthorize the Violence
    Against Women Act.
        Finally, the crime bill will strengthen our efforts to combat
    international crime and terrorism. The threat of weapons of mass
    destruction is real and increasing in an age of technological change and
    open borders. The bill will

    [[Page 749]]

    make it a Federal crime to possess the biological agents used in such
    weapons without a legitimate, peaceful purpose.
        This is the kind of comprehensive approach that has brought crime
    down 6 years in a row now. It is the kind of tough but smart approach we
    need in the new century. I am pleased that so many Members of the
    Congress are committed to move this agenda forward this year. I thank
    the Democrats who have come out in support of the legislation, and I
    hope that, as in 1994, we will enjoy strong support from Republican
    Members who share our objectives. And I thank those who are here today.
    I look forward to working with members of both parties to protect our
    families and to make our communities safe.
        Now, as you all know, this is Police Week, and you see a number of
    police officers behind me and out in the audience. It's a week where we
    pay tribute to our Nation's law enforcement officers. Without their
    courage, commitment, and ability to meet the challenges of our time and
    to help keep our streets safe, life would be much more difficult in
    America.
        It is fitting, therefore, that the next speaker is a young community
    police officer from the Wilmington, Delaware, Police Department, funded
    through our COPS program, who used to be, I might add, a fifth-grade
    teacher and who truly represents the changing face and the bright future
    of policing in America. Officer Jonathan Hall
    was a teacher when he decided to become a police officer, but he still
    finds time to be a mentor to at-risk young people. And he takes every
    chance he can to talk to children about how they can protect themselves
    from crime.
        Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming a man who
    symbolizes what we have been working to bring to America for the last 6
    years, Officer Jonathan Hall.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Anthony A. Williams of
    Washington, DC; Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore, MD; and Mayor Edward G.
    Rendell of Philadelphia, PA. The Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police
    Week proclamation of May 10 is listed in Appendix D at the end of this
    volume.