HUD Secy. Henry Cisneros
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NEWS BFIErING BY ATTY GEN. JANET RENO; HUD SECV HENRY tISNEROS; DIR. or DRUG CONTROL POLICY LEE BROWN; AND ASST 5Eey Or THE TREASURY RON NOBLE RE: ANTI-CRIME INITIATIVES TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 1994 TPANSCRIPT BY: rEDERAL NEWS SERVICE 620 NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20045 rEDERAL NEWS SERVICE IS A PRIVATE rIRM AND IS NOT ArrILIATED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COPYRIGHT 1994 BY FEDERAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS CORPORATION, WASHINGTON, DC 20045, USA. NO PORTION OF THIS TRANS'RIPT MAY BE COPIED, SOLD, DR RETRANSMITTED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN AUTHORITY Or FEDERAL INrORMATIDN SYSTEMS CORPORATION. COPYRIGHT IS NOT CLAIMED AS TO ANY PART OF THE OPIGINAL WOR~ PREPARED BY A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OrrICER OR EMPLOYEE AS A PART OF THAT FERSON'S OrrICIAL DUTIES ATTY GEN. RENO: Our NatIonal VIolent Crime InItIatIve IS underway With a federal prosecutor now deSignated to coordInate our efforts In everyone of the 94 dlstr1cts In the country With JOInt local/federal strategies for attack1ng VIolent crIme already underway In many of the distrIcts. I have had an opportunity to VISIt dlstr1cts, to talk WIth state and local law enforcement, to talk w1th fede~al offlclals who are workIng WIth them, and I am adVised that we have not seen such cooperation In many years. We have further to go, however. Our Weed and Seed program IS reachIng more communltles now -- up to 20 sltes from 10 last year, apprehending more crimInals and developlng mCtre preventlon programs that have proven to be successful. Our (PAC 1) program 15 workIng WIth local off1cIals to bring new dlrectlcln and energy to communIty crime prevention efforts. As I travel across the country, I hear real enthuslasm for these comblned state and federal efforts that" brIng a focus on law enforcement, on the Violent crimInals, on what the federal government can do to assist local government 1n terms of law enforcement. I also see us coming together With CIties and communIties across thls natIon 1n cr1me prevention efforts, uS1ng the OffIce Of Justlce Programs, the Bureau of Justlce Ass1stance, Weed and Seed, to work With them as true partners In prOVidIng monies that are truly needed. But I'm not here to be a Pollyanna or to pretend that the cr1me problem IS being solved. We've made some headway but we've got more to do. The crime bll1 IS now pending In the House and lt has many helpful prOVISions. One of the refrains 1 hear as I travel across thIS natlon 1S the need for more support for state pr1son systems to make sure that they are able to house the vIolent crImInals for the length of tIme the Judges are sentencIng them. The bIll wlII provlde $3 bIllIon In grant money to state and local governments to operate prlsons and to make sure that we have truth In sentencIng for VIolent offenders. Programs to deal wIth youthful and drug offenders are In the crIme bill and they are crltlcally lmportant. Communlty after communIty had had the chance to VISIt our local drug court In Miami and uant to replIcate It, but don't have the resources. Those resources would be provIded In the crl~e bIll. And preventIon programs that 91ve klds somethlng to say yes to, our youth employment skllls program, keepIng schools clpen lat.r are all 1n the crime bIll and I thInk are critical prOVISions. We have announced a plan to restore fund1ng for Byrne (spt grant multi jurisdictional task forces, which 50 many sheriffs have pOInted out are 50 crItIcal to theIr efforts. But the one aspect of our crime bill that I thInk IS so crItically Important 1S the prCaV1S1on for the 100,000 pollce offlcers for commun1ty polICIng, and pvery communIty I have been to polIce departments e1ther want to start It or have started It on a very small scale and want to expand It. RIght now at the Department of J'ustlce we are hal fway through clur police hlrIng grants program, a program deslgned to make a downpayment on the 100,000 police offIcers. Four months ag':' we gave our fIrst grant, to date we have passed out $75 mIllIon for over 100 CitIes and towns to hIre 1,000 new pollce offIcers. And those that got the fIrst grants tell me they're makIng a dlfference. By the end of AprIl when the program IS complete, we WIll have put 2,000 pollce offIcers on the streets In about 200 cClmmunltles. But for each Jurlsdlctlon we WIll have been able to help under thIS program, 15 more have applIed. Three thousand cltles, towns, countles and states have applied for thIS program. Some came In late and are not ellglble, whIch brIngs the total to more, and we WIll only be able to assIst approxImately 200. Everywhere I travel, local offICIals say they need thlS help. The crIme bIll presents an unprecedented effort to tackle thIS problem. Its 100,000 new street-level pollce offIcers, a 40 percent 1ncrease In the current natIonal force of 250,000 street level law enfc1rcement off1cers IS a v1tal effort. We have mUCh to do. I thInk the Amer1can people want us all to work together In a non-partIsan, thoughtful way to get th1s crIme bIll passed. It focuses on punIshment that's faIr and that fIts the crIme and that prOVIdes preventlonal alternat1ves that can make a dl fference. I'd now llke to Introduce Secretary Henry Clsneros of HUD to talk about the work -- the really eX'cellent work that's being done 1n Safe Homes. SEC. CISNEROS: Thank you very much, General. I was pleased to be here a month ago w1th the attorney general, w1th Secretary Bentsen and wlth Dr. Brown to dlscuss the lnltlatlon of an administration lnltlat~ve announced by the Vlce presldent ent1tled Operatlon Safe Home. The thrust 15 to brlng together the resources of mult1ple federal agencles and focus on those envlronments where people Ilve wIth federal asslstance; t~at 15 to say publ1C hous1ng enVIronments, WhlCh unfortunately are seed beds for much crIme 1n our central cltles, and asslsted hOUSIng. There was some skeptlclsm ralsed at that tlme as tel whether thlS was Jwst an announcement or whether we lntended to really put muscle beh1nd 1t. I'm pleased ter be here today to glve you a sense of what the f1rst month's result are on Operatlon Safe Home. Our lnteragency approach tel Operatlon Safe Hc,me has led to 24 arrests and 14 lndlctments and the recovery of more than 2S weapons and 300,000 1n drugs and cash. The whlte collar portlon of Operatlon Safe Home, whIch deals wlth equlty sklmmlng and dlverslon of funds destlned for housing repalYS or other hOUSIng needs, has YIelded Sl~ IndIctments and a gUIlty plea. The multlfamlly sklmmlng effort has led to four C1VlI settlements WIth $9.9 mIlllon ln repayments to multlfamlly proJects and $2.1 mllilon to HUn, double damages Judgment of $1.6 mIllIon. Let me g1 ve you an example clf how OperatIon Safe Hc-me works on the ground. On March 16, as part of a task force effort 1n the cIty of New Haven, Connectlcut, a team of 60 federal agents and pollce offIcers -- DEA, rBI, HUD OffIce of Inspector General, and state and lr;tcal law enforcement agencIes -- arrested 12 lndlvldua.ls and seIzed drugs and fIrearms at and near publIC hOUSIng developments. The lndlvlduals were charged wlth seillng and dIstrIbutIng drugs, fIrearms, and rIskIng InJury to ch1ldren. Today HUn 1S announc1ng the avallablllty of $232 mllllon under a program known as drug elImInatIon grants -- the publIC hOUSIng drug e11mlnat1c1n prCtgram, wh1ch wlll be ava1lable tCI local hc-us1ng author1t1es to control and prevent drug use, dyug trafflck1ng and drug-related cr1me 1n these communlt1es. S1nce 1989 when thIS program began, over 1,700 grants totalIng over $500 m11110n have been awarded t'o hc,uslng authc-r1t1es, SCI you can see that 1f we awarded over S500 mlll10n from 1989 to the present, and th1S year, today, we're mak1ng ava1lable $2.32 mll110n -- almctst a half of the tCltal, we have 1ncreased the amount of money available for thiS program. It 1$ directly -- goes dlrectly to houslng authorltles for the1r use 1n attempt1ng to get a handle on these problems. HUD has also made ava1lable $75 m11110n foy what are called famlly ass1stance centers. These are family 11v1ng env1ronments 1n publIC hous1ng where young people can have access to educatlonal opportun1t1es, recreat10nal opportun1tles and employment opportun1tles, and we tIe those carefully 1nto our ant1-cr1me strateg1es. All of th1S WIll tie Into the preSIdent's S6 b1ll1on antl-cr1me lnltlatlve. One step 1n which HUD 1S 1nvolved 1S the encouragement ~f pol1ce res1dency 1n publiC houslng and 1n central C1ty sett1ngs, and I'm very pleased to say we're haVing tremendous-success 1n persuadIng hous1ng author1t1es to g1ve up un1ts so that pollce offIcers can come 1n at d1scounted or no rents and llve 1n public. houslng developments. It does seem to make a substantIal dIfference. 50 mv message today lS, In summary, three-fold flrst, when we work toge\her th1S way, we can produce results, and the last month has proven results already ln publlc housIng and housing settings. Secondly, a key lS that the federal agenc1es work together 1n an unprecedented way. I want to thank the attorney general. Because of the Just1ce Department ent1tles 1nvolved ln thiS effort -- DEA and the FBI, the U.S. attorneys, and the Treasury because of the role of the Bureau cf Alcohol, Tobacco and r1rearms, and the Secret Serv1ce WhlCh gets lnvolved In money launderlng 1nvest1gatlons -- all of wh1ch have collaborated tel produce these successes and many more that we believe w1ll be comJ.ng.