The White House Office of the Press Secretary ------------------------------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release August 11, 1993 THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO EXPAND COMMUNITY POLICING AND REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE It is time for America to make a serious commitment to community policing, to having people back on the beat, working the same neighborhoods, making relationships with people in ways that prevent crime . . . . How will the federal government provide 100,000 more police officers? First of all, by getting the crime bill passed. Bill Clinton Detroit, Michigan October 17, 1992 The first duty of government is to keep its citizens safe. The Clinton Administration is offering a number of initiatives to prevent crime and reduce gun violence: * Expand community policing in cities and towns across America by putting up to 100,000 more officers on the streets. * Keep handguns out of the hands of criminals by passing the Brady Bill, which will require a five-day waiting period before purchasing a handgun, and taking other measures on assault weapons that will begin to end the arms race in our streets. * Provide community boot camps, which give young people discipline, training, and a better chance to avoid a life of crime, and provide criminal addicts with drug treatment. * Pass a crime bill that increases penalties for gun offenses, reforms habeas corpus procedures to raise counsel standards and limit appeals, and imposes federal death penalties for killing a federal law enforcement officer and other heinous crimes. PUTTING 100,000 MORE OFFICERS ON THE STREET A first step we can take to reduce crime in America is to put more police on the streets, walking the beat and working with neighbors as partners against crime. The Clinton Administration's anti-crime initiative will expand community policing throughout the nation. This innovative way of thinking about policing has already helped reduce crime in several communities across the country. From New York to St. Louis to Los Angeles, police departments are using this approach to put more police on the streets. The Clinton Administration has launched a government-wide effort to put 100,000 more officers and public safety personnel on the street: Supplemental Appropriations: Congress passed and the President signed into law on July 2 an FY93 supplemental appropriations bill that included $150 million in community policing grants to hire and rehire police officers. This competitive grants program will become available to states and localities in early September, and will put more than 2,100 new police on the streets over the next three years. Policing and Public Safety: The cornerstone of the President's community policing plan to put police on the street is the Policing and Public Safety program that will be part of this year's crime bill. An expansion of the Cop-on-the-Beat legislation introduced by Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the Justice Department program will challenge communities to implement community policing by providing grants, training, and technical assistance for police officers. The program is authorized at $3.4 billion over the next five years, which will help communities put up to 50,000 new officers on the street. The Administration will make full funding for this program a priority. Police Corps: This four-year, $100 million program will give college scholarships and police training to as many as 4-5,000 students who are willing to make a four-year commitment to serve their communities as police officers. As Governor of Arkansas, President Clinton instituted the nation's first state Police Corps program. Safe Schools Initiative: Schools should be a safe haven for children, free of weapons, drugs, and crime. Education Secretary Richard Riley has introduced emergency Safe Schools legislation, based on a proposal by Rep. Schumer and others, that will enable local education authorities to hire security personnel and pay for police officers who include schools as part of their community policing "beat". The Administration's budget request includes $475 million for Safe Schools over the next five years, which would fund up to 4,000 sworn and non-sworn officers. Community Partnerships Against Crime: Some of the nation's worst pockets of crime are concentrated in neighborhoods with public housing. To help make public housing safer, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Cisneros is transforming his department's Drug Elimination Grant Program into a more effective program called Community Partnerships Against Crime (COMPAC). The Administration's budget request includes more than $700 million over the next five years to put as many as 5,000 sworn and non-sworn officers to work in law enforcement, security, and community policing in public housing. National Service: Up to one-quarter of the slots in the national service plan Congress is expected to put on the President's desk in September will be available for young people who choose to pay their country and their communities back through public safety and law enforcement. The program could put up to 25,000 young people to work as non-sworn personnel for local police departments, crime prevention groups and other public safety efforts. The President hopes to put the first National Service participants to work by the summer of 1994. Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities: The economic plan which the President signed into law August 10 will create jobs in depressed urban and rural areas around the country by targeting growth incentives and investments into nine Empowerment Zones and 100 Enterprise Communities. The Administration's budget request includes up to $500 million for up to 6-7,000 officers to do community policing in these areas, because businesses can't create jobs where the streets are not safe. While the Empowerment Zone proposal passed as part of budget reconciliation, the Appropriations Committees have not approved the Administration's budget request. Troops-to-Cops: As we downscale the military in the aftermath of the Cold War, we need to put our best trained, most talented men and women to work keeping America safe here at home. To help police departments tap into the pool of talented military personnel, Secretary of Labor Robert Reich will make as much as $10 million from the Defense Diversification Program available to retrain up to 1,500 veterans who are leaving the military for jobs with state and local police departments. Paying for Public Safety: Funding for these policing programs is included in the Administration's budget baseline for FY 1994-98. If additional funds are required for these and other Administration initiatives, the Administration will continue to pursue additional budget cuts, including ones the Administration sought but has not yet achieved in Congress this year. It is expected that Congressional leadership and the National Performance Review will identify additional savings. Community policing programs assume some state/local match. REDUCING GUN VIOLENCE The Clinton Administration is committed to passing the Brady Bill, and reducing the wave of gun violence that is plaguing America. Brady Bill: This legislation -- named for former Reagan press secretary James Brady, and championed by his wife Sarah -- will impose a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, and require background checks so that we can help keep handguns out of the hands of criminals. The Brady Bill passed both houses of Congress last session with bipartisan support. Assault Weapons: Recent attacks on children at a swimming pool in Washington, D.C., and on a law firm in San Francisco have underscored the need for Congress to consider legislation addressing the sale and availability of semiautomatic assault weapons --the guns of choice for drug- and gang-related crime. Presidential Action: Today, the President will sign Presidential Memoranda to suspend the importation of assault pistols, which are not covered under the existing assault weapons import ban, and to toughen enforcement of compliance procedures in issuing federal firearms licenses to gun dealers. COMMUNITY BOOT CAMPS FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS AND DRUG TREATMENT FOR CRIMINAL ADDICTS In Arkansas, Governor Clinton pioneered the use of community boot camps, which provide young people the discipline, education, and training they need for a better chance to avoid a life of crime. The Administration will work with Congress to convert closed military bases and other appropriate facilities into a system of boot camps. Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Lee Brown and Attorney General Janet Reno will work to ensure that we use the criminal justice system to provide criminal addicts with drug treatment. FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY The Administration will ask Congress to pass crime legislation that provides the death penalty for nearly 50 offenses -- including killing a federal law enforcement officer and killing state officers in the course of cooperative investigations with federal agencies. HABEAS CORPUS REFORM Senator Biden has introduced breakthrough habeas reform legislation, with strong support from district attorneys, state attorneys general, and the Administration. The legislation will, for the first time, limit inmates to filing a single, federal habeas corpus appeal within a six-month time limit. At the same time, the legislation will also assure that all indigent capital defendants will be represented by counsel who meet specific, rigorous experience and qualification standards. ###