[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 1996)]
[Pages 848-849]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Teleconference Announcing Community Policing Grants

May 15, 1996

    The President. Hello.
    Mayor Willie Brown. Mr. President, Willie Brown, California.
    The President. Hello, Mayor.
    Mayor Brown. How are you?
    The President. You're getting good press over here on the East 
Coast. [Laughter]
    Mayor Brown. You're getting better press than I'm getting.
    The President. I don't know about that. Well, I'm glad you're all on 
the phone. As I think you know, today we are providing more law 
enforcement dollars to more communities than on any other single day in 
the history of this country. And in addition to all of you, I'm also 
here with your colleague, John Norquist, the Mayor of Milwaukee. He 
happened to be in town today, so I asked him to come in and sit with me 
as I announce that today we are putting almost 9,000 new police officers 
on the street.
    Mayor Brown. Outstanding.
    The President. That will bring our total to 43,000 new police 
officers since I signed the crime bill into law just 20 months ago. That 
means we're running well ahead of schedule in reaching our goal of 
putting 100,000 new police officers on the street.

    This afternoon, I will attend the annual ceremony at the Peace 
Officers Memorial, and we will honor the memory of the 161 officers who 
were killed in the line of duty last year. We now, on this schedule that 
we're on, we are not only well ahead of schedule, we were prepared to 
put 100,000 police on the street in 5 years. We're now at 43,000 in 20 
months. We're also under budget, and it's helping all of you to make our 
streets safer and to decrease crime.

    We have just learned, I'm sure all of you know, that serious crimes 
have decreased for the 4th year in a row, including an 8 percent drop in 
the murder rate. Community policing has a lot to do with this, and I 
congratulate all of you who have, each in your own way, implemented it, 
helping to get officers back on the street and involved in the community 
and working as positive role models and preventing crime as well as 
catching criminals.
    And I want to pledge to you that I will continue to work with you 
and continue to challenge the American people to work with you. When I 
was at Penn State last week delivering the commencement address, I urged 
the American people to join neighborhood crime watch groups and to do 
other things that would support community policing. And I hope that we 
will see a big increase in the number of citizens who are supporting our 
common efforts now.
    Let me call on a couple of you, starting with Mayor Riordan. I know 
your community policing efforts have made a big difference, especially 
your public-private partnership encouraging businesses to play a role in 
keeping communities safer. And I'm glad that you will be getting 710 new 
officers.
    Mayor?

[Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles, CA, thanked the President for his 
vote of confidence in their police department and explained how the 
increase in officers and community policing programs have helped to 
prevent and fight crime in his city.]

    The President Thank you very much. And I appreciate that, Mayor 
Riordan. I appreciate what you're doing.

[[Page 849]]

    I'd like to now call on Mayor Mike White in Cleveland. I understand 
that the help you've gotten from the police program has helped you to 
permit police officers to live within the neighborhood they patrol and 
make them a more vital part of the community. And that's a very 
intriguing idea and an old-fashioned idea, I'm sure, that still works 
very well. And as you know, Cleveland will be getting more police 
officers today as well. And so, Mr. Mayor, we would like to hear from 
you.

[Mayor Michael R. White thanked the President for his commitment to 
reducing the crime rate and explained how community policing programs 
have helped to lower crime in Cleveland by 16 percent in the last 5 
years.]

    The President. Thank you very much, Mayor White. And I want to thank 
the others who are on the line. Let me just call your names and make 
sure I've got everybody.
    Mayor Herenton?
    Mayor Willie W. Herenton. Yes, Mr. President.
    The President. Vice Mayor Sharp of Knoxville?
    Vice Mayor Jack Sharp. Yes, sir.
    The President. Mayor Corradini of Salt Lake?
    Mayor Deedee Corradini. I'm here.
    The President. And Mayor Delaney of Jacksonville?
    Mayor John A. Delaney. Right here, Mr. President.
    The President. Mayor Greco of Tampa.
    Mayor Dick A. Greco. Thank you, Mr. President. We all thank you 
here.
    The President. Mayor Bosely of St. Louis?
    Mayor Freeman R. Bosley, Jr. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. I'll see you tomorrow, won't I?
    Mayor Bosley. Yes.
    The President. The day after tomorrow.
    Mayor Bosley. Right.
    The President. Mayor James of Newark?
    Mayor Sharpe James. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. Mayor Finkbeiner of Toledo?
    Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. And Mayor Lanier of Houston. Is he on the phone?
    Participant. He's stuck in city council. [Laughter]
    The President. And Sheriff Glover of Jacksonville County, are you on 
the phone?
    Sheriff Nathaniel Glover. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. And of course, Mayor Brown. I said hello to you 
earlier.
    Mayor Brown. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. I thank all of you very much, and I know you will do 
a lot with these 43,000 additional officers to make the streets of 
America safer. Thank you very much.
    Goodbye.

Note: The President spoke at 11:57 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Willie Brown of San 
Francisco, CA, and Mayor Willie W. Herenton of Memphis, TN.