Clinton proposes billions more to boost police numbers

Clinton

President unveils new anti-crime plan

January 14, 1999
Web posted at: 4:11 p.m. EST (2111 GMT)

In this story:

• 100,000 new police and beyond
• Crime down, statistics say
• Related stories and sites

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Pointing to new data that show some crime rates have dropped to levels not seen in decades, President Clinton on Thursday said the numbers still were too high. He proposed a five-year, $6 billion package that raises the ante on his nearly fulfilled pledge to put 100,000 new officers on the beat nationwide.

Some of the money would be used to increase funding for COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services), a federally run program that aims to prevent crime through problem-solving tactics and community partnerships.

"Crime rates overall have dropped to a 25-year low. Property crime (is) down. Violent crime has declined 20 percent in the last six years. The murder rate is at its lowest level nationwide in 30 years," Clinton said during a ceremony at a police station in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb that participates in the COPS program.

The president cited preliminary 1998 figures in a report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Alexandria, Virginia, police officer Irma Rivera describes law enforcement efforts to make communities safer ( 374 K / 15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

It predicts the total number of violent crimes last year -- both incidents reported to police and those unreported -- will fall below 3 million for the first time since 1973, when the bureau started its annual interviews with crime victims.

"Three million people is a lot of people," Clinton said as he urged a continuation of his administration's anti-crime efforts. "What we should do is to say, 'OK, we know what works. Now, let's bear down and keep doing it until we have got this problem as small as it can possibly be.'"

Goal: 100,000 police added by mid-1999

The Justice Department estimates Clinton's goal of 100,000 new police officers should be met by mid-1999. The president, meantime, hopes to raise the figure even higher.

Clinton said his new budget will ask Congress for $1.3 billion in fiscal 2000 -- and a total of $6.4 billion over the next five years -- to extend the COPS program and allow the hiring of still more police officers.

"This will help to hire and redeploy an additional 30,000 to 50,000 community police officers over that same period," he said.

"It'll be the best investment we can make in a safe future for our children, and I hope we can pass it with your help," he told an audience that included Alexandria police plus Attorney General Janet Reno and Senators Chuck Robb, D- Virginia, and Joseph Biden, D-Delaware.

Under the balanced budget agreement reached by Clinton and congressional Republicans in 1996, COPS was to be phased out by fiscal year 2001.

It was not immediately clear if the Clinton administration's plan to breathe new life into the program would be supported by the Republican majority in Congress.

In addition to the money designated for hiring new police, Clinton's proposed $1.3-billion package for fiscal 2000 would provide funds for competitive grant programs, including: