[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 14 (Monday, April 11, 1994)]
[Pages 737-738]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the District Court Decision on Chicago's ``Operation Clean 
Sweep''

April 7, 1994

    Just hours ago, a Federal District Court for the Northern District 
of Illinois, Eastern Division, declared the Chicago Housing Authority's 
(CHA) search policy in violation of the fourth amendment.
    I am ordering Attorney General Reno and Secretary Cisneros to 
develop promptly a search policy for public housing that is both 
constitutionally permissible and effective and that can be implemented 
on a nationwide basis. We must not allow criminals to find

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shelter in the public housing community they terrorize.
    I have also asked the Attorney General and Secretary Cisneros to 
explore what other resources we can provide for sweeps by localities and 
by Federal agencies.
    During the last weekend in March, 13 people died violently in 
Chicago--3 of them in the Robert Taylor Homes--and more than 300 gun 
incidents were reported to local police. The people in the Robert Taylor 
Homes have asked us to help protect them, and within constitutional 
limits we will do so.