THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

         The 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act
                            May 12, 1999

Today, President Clinton will announce that his Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program has achieved an important milestone by helping communities to fund the hiring or redeployment of 100,000 police officers across the nation. Additionally, he will propose new legislation -- The 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act -- that builds on the successful 1994 Crime Act, which has helped to cut the crime rate dramatically across the nation. This new legislation renews the Justice Department's COPS program and includes new provisions to reduce juvenile and drug crime, protect crime victims, and combat international crime and terrorism.

• Helping fund 100,000 community-oriented police. President Clinton will announce grants of more than $95 million for 526 communities to hire approximately 1,500 new police officers. With these new grants, the COPS office will have provided 11,300 cities with $5.9 billion to help hire and redeploy more than 100,000 police officers across the country -- fulfilling the President's 1992 pledge to do so. More than half of these officers are already patrolling America's streets.
• Building on what works. The President also will propose new legislation -- The 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act -- that builds on the successful programs enacted as part of the 1994 Crime Act. The President's new legislation would:

(1) Maintain our commitment to law enforcement by renewing the COPS program and providing funds to hire or redeploy between 30,000 and 50,000 more police, giving police the high-tech tools they need to do their job, and hiring more local prosecutors to target local crime problems.

(2) Punish and prevent youth crime and violence by giving prosecutors new tools to punish the most violent juveniles and curb witness intimidation by gang members, promoting swift and certain punishment for all juvenile offenders, and working to prevent at-risk youth from committing serious crimes in the first place.

(3) Break the cycle of drugs and crime by expanding drug courts, helping states and localities implement "zero tolerance" drug supervision programs that test, treat, and punish all drug offenders, and putting into place tough provisions on money laundering to help staunch the flow of illegal drug profits.

(4) Protect all crime victims by enhancing penalties for child abusers who kill and adults who commit violent crimes in the presence of a child; by providing new authorities for federal law enforcement to protect older Americans from illegal telemarketing, nursing home neglect and abuse, retirement rip-offs, and health care fraud; and by keeping up the fight against domestic violence.

(5) Combat international crime and terrorism by prohibiting certain possession and unsafe handling of biological agents and toxins, and making it more difficult for these agents to fall into the hands of terrorists.

KEEPING OUR COMMITMENT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Renewing the COPS program. The President's 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act extends the COPS program and proposes spending $1.3 billion annually to help communities continue to hire, redeploy, and retain police officers. It would also give law enforcement officers access to the latest crime-fighting technologies and target funds to engage the entire community in the fight against crime. Specifically, the bill provides:
  • $600 million for more police on the street. These funds would be used primarily to hire and redeploy between 30,000 and 50,000 more law enforcement officers over five years, with an effort to target new police officers to crime "hot spots." A portion of the funds also would be used to help economically distressed communities absorb the long-term costs of their new police hires and to fund programs to train, educate, and recruit police officers -- including efforts to train police officers in ethics and integrity and to promote minority recruitment.
  • $350 million for crime-fighting technologies. These funds would be used to help state and local enforcement agencies gain access to new technologies that will allow them to communicate more effectively, solve more crimes, and conduct comprehensive crime analysis. For instance, these funds could be used to: use computers and wireless communications to send data and images from a police department in one jurisdiction to a patrol car in the next; improve the state of the nation's overburdened and underfunded crime labs and make high-end laboratory technologies
    • such as DNA analysis -- more widely available; and expand the use of crime mapping and other technologies that improve law enforcement's ability to analyze, predict, and respond to local crime trends and problems.
  • $200 million for community prosecutors and neighborhood district attorneys. As police and community residents have joined forces to fight crime on a proactive basis, communities also have turned to local prosecutors to play a more active role in community crime-fighting efforts. These funds would help communities hire more prosecutors to target neighborhood crime problems.
  • $125 million for community-wide crime prevention. The President's new legislation specifically provides funds to engage the entire community in preventing and fighting crime. These funds could be used to: work with local school officials in adopting community-wide plans to prevent school violence; involve faith-based and other values-based organizations in juvenile crime prevention efforts; and establish citizens' police academies that teach neighborhood residents problem-solving skills.
• Supporting Law Enforcement. The President's new crime legislation would also extend federal grants to help police departments purchase bullet-proof vests for their police officers and allow communities to use a portion of COPS funds to help current police officers pay for a college education or graduate school.

PUNISHING AND PREVENTING YOUTH CRIME AND VIOLENCE

• Cracking down on gangs and violent youth. The 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act incorporates key provisions of the Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Strategy announced by the President in 1997. It provides new tools to help federal prosecutors go after gang criminals and violent youth. Specifically, the bill will:
  • Give prosecutors the discretion to decide whether to try the most serious violent juveniles as adults, allowing prosecutors to treat appropriately the older and more serious offenders who may not be adequately punished in the juvenile justice system;
  • Expand law enforcement access to federal juvenile records by requiring that federal juvenile records involving gun offenses or other adult-type felonies be sent to the FBI and made available to all law enforcement officers in the same manner as adult records;
  • Make it easier to prosecute gang members and other violent criminals who attempt to intimidate or retaliate against witnesses; and
  • Authorize judges to hold gang members without bail pending trial if there is probable cause to believe they have been involved in criminal activity.
• Provide swift, certain, and proportionate punishments for juvenile offenders. The President's legislation also authorizes new funds for states and localities to ensure swift, certain, and proportionate punishments whenever juvenile offenders violate the law -- sending the message that there are clear and certain consequences for breaking the rules. These grants could be used to fund:
  • Graduated sanctions that hold youthful offenders accountable for every offense, and that escalate in intensity for repeat offenses;
  • Teen courts or peer juries to promote zero-tolerance policies for misdemeanor offenses such as truancy, vandalism, and underage alcohol and tobacco use; and
  • Restitution or victim mediation, which requires young offenders and their family members to meet face-to-face with the victims of their crimes and agree upon appropriate reparations, including restitution or community service.
• Prevent serious juvenile crime in the first place. The President's bill authorizes $95 million for comprehensive community-based prevention to target at-risk youth, including:
  • Mentoring and after school programs to provide positive role models and responsible adult supervision for young people; and
  • Anti-truancy initiatives to keep kids in school and off the streets, where they are more likely to become victims or perpetrators of crime.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF DRUGS AND CRIME

• Enforcing "zero tolerance" drug supervision. In 1997, more than three-quarters of the nation's prisoners reported past drug use, and one in six committed their crimes so they could purchase drugs. The 21st Century Law Enforcement and Public Safety Act addresses this problem by establishing a new $100 million initiative to help states and localities systematically test, treat, and sanction drug-involved probationers, prisoners, and parolees. The bill also reauthorizes the successful drug court initiative established by the 1994 Crime Act and extends funding to provide intensive, long-term drug treatment to state prisoners with serious drug problems.
• Enhancing drug penalties and enforcement. The President's bill contains targeted penalty increases for using kids to sell drugs and selling drugs on or near school property. It also grants the Attorney General emergency authority to reschedule certain controlled substances on a temporary basis.
• Helping states fight drugs and crime. The President's bill extends the Violent Offender Incarceration/Truth-in-Sentencing prison grant program, while giving states additional flexibility to free up additional prison beds by seeking authorization to use up to 25 percent of previously awarded grant funds to implement graduated sanctions programs for non-violent offenders. Graduated sanction programs hold offenders accountable for every offense they commit, while escalating in intensity with repeat offenses. The bill also reauthorizes the Byrne block grant program, which funds statewide anti-drug plans and multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement task forces.
• Cracking down on drug money laundering. Money laundering is a global problem, often involving international financial institutions and the smuggling of currency across borders. To continue the Administration's fight against international money laundering and drug crime, the President's bill would:
  • Help stop the flow of cash drug proceeds by making it a federal crime to smuggle "bulk cash" (more than $10,000 in currency) out of the United States and by cracking down on money transmitters who knowingly accept criminal proceeds from abroad or who fail to report large cash transactions;
  • Hold foreign banks that violate our laws accountable by allowing federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over them;
  • Thwart black market transactions by requiring persons who use drug proceeds to prove they did not know the money came from unlawful activity; and
  • Seize more illegal drug profits by doing more to confiscate the assets of criminals and encouraging more cooperation from foreign governments.

PROTECTING ALL CRIME VICTIMS

• Establishing a new safety net for seniors. Falling violent and property crime rates mean our nation's seniors are safer, but these citizens remain threatened by telemarketing scams, retirement rip-offs, and abuse and neglect by caretakers. To help protect seniors from these crimes and punish the criminals who prey on elderly Americans, the President's bill would:
  • Shut down fraudulent telemarketers by granting the Attorney General new authority to block and terminate telephone service to illegal telemarketers;
  • Protect nursing home residents from abuse and neglect by giving federal prosecutors new tools to halt and punish nursing home operators who repeatedly abuse and neglect the residents in their care;
  • Fight health care fraud and abuse by making it easier for the Justice Department to prosecute and punish illegal kickback schemes -- and harder for criminals to stick Medicare with the bills by declaring bankruptcy; and
  • Safeguard retirement and pension plans by making it a federal crime to defraud employee pension benefit or retirement funds and increasing penalties for retirement plan managers who take bribes.
• Protecting children exposed to violence. Each year millions of children and adolescents are victims of violent crime, and millions more witness serious violence or abuse. These children are more likely to go on to commit violent crimes themselves. The President's bill would make it easier for federal prosecutors to charge child abusers who kill with first degree murder and to bolster the prosecution of adults who commit violent crimes in front of children.
• Continuing the fight against domestic violence. The historic Violence Against Women Act helped to strengthen law enforcement's response to violent crime committed against women. It helped promote comprehensive law enforcement strategies, encouraged pro-arrest policies for domestic violence crimes, and provided emergency shelter to women and children fleeing abusive situations. The President's bill extends these successful programs and also:
  • Targets the illegal trafficking of women and children by giving federal prosecutors new tools to bring trafficking cases and increasing penalties for persons who transport women and children to the United States and coerce them to work in sweatshops and other forced labor; and
  • Protects battered immigrant women and children by enabling them to file their own petitions for lawful status, without having to rely on abusive spouses.

COMBATING TERRORISM AND INTERNATIONAL CRIME

• Keeping biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists. Biological weapons pose a serious threat to the United States, particularly in the hands of terrorists or disaffected groups. The President's bill would help keep dangerous biological agents and toxins out of the wrong hands by:
  • Barring unauthorized possession and transfer of harmful biological agents;
  • Holding accountable persons who knowingly disregard public health and safety when handling deadly toxins;
  • Making it a crime to perpetrate a hoax involving biological agents; and
  • Prohibiting violent felons and fugitives from possessing dangerous biological agents.
• Implementing the President's International Crime Control Strategy. The President's bill includes key provisions from the International Crime Control Act he introduced last year, including measures to:
  • Create a new federal criminal penalty for port-running, an evasion tactic employed by contraband smugglers passing through ports without stopping - that puts law enforcement and civilians at great risk;
  • Strengthen our ability to intercept drug smuggling vessels by making it a criminal offense for failing to "heave to" a vessel at the direction of a Coast Guard or other federal law enforcement official seeking to board that vessel;
  • Protect Americans abroad by strengthening our authority to investigate and prosecute organized crime groups who commit crimes against Americans abroad;
  • Respond to emerging international crime problems by enhancing enforcement tools to combat international arms trafficking and requiring additional "end-use" verification of certain precursor chemicals used to manufacture illegal drugs; and
  • Deny safe haven for international fugitives by excluding drug traffickers who attempt to enter the United States to avoid prosecution in another country.

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