Political Quotes

“today we are faced again with an tragedy in one of America's schools. There are many things that schools are and could be doing to prevent violence--and many ways the federal government could help. But, today, I am going to speak to just one of them. Under the COPS program--President Clinton's initiative to put 100,000 new police officers on our streets--local governments are required to provide 25 percent of the funding. But, the Attorney General has the authority to waive the local matching requirement for any reason. Last summer, I called on the Justice Department to establish a blanket waiver policy for any local community that wanted to place a law enforcement officer in a public school. To its credit, the Department has done so in some cases, and it says it will continue to do so on a case-by-case basis. But, Mr. President, that is not good enough. We need to tell our local communities that the local match will be waived, period, for any new police officer hired to be in the schools. I have again called on the Administration to establish such a waiver policy--and to tell our local communities about it. Just in case, however, I am also introducing legislation today--the COPS in Schools Act--to require a waiver. I am not advocating putting police officers in the schools just to patrol. Nor do I want people to think our schools are or should be jails or combat zones.…”