Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993                   TAG: 9312210095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

$50 MILLION IN GRANTS AWARDED TO FIGHT CRIME

All of Clinton's public schedule was devoted to anti-crime efforts, which have soared to the top of the political agenda amid public outrage over violence.

"Help is on the way," Clinton assured mayors in a conference call from the Oval Office as he awarded grants for local law enforcement agencies to hire 658 police officers across the country.

"I know these grants are simply a down payment on our pledge to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets," the president said. "It's just the beginning."

Los Angeles got $4 million to hire 54 officers, and San Antonio, Texas, got $3 million to hire 40. Other recipients in the $2 million range were Baltimore; Sacramento County, Calif.; Aurora, Colo.; Orlando, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; and Buffalo, N.Y.

"This is the best Christmas gift that the city of Newark could ever receive," Mayor Sharpe James told Clinton.

With $100 million still available for hiring police, 150 more police departments will receive grants over the next few months. There was no money in the first batch for the nation's capital, which has had 455 homicides this year.

From his conference call with mayors, Clinton went directly to the Roosevelt Room to sign the National Child Protection Act, creating a national data base of all indictments and convictions on child abuse and sex offense charges, violent crimes, arson and felony drug charges.

Companies that hire child-care workers will be able to use the data base for background checks on potential employees.

"This law will give us the tools we need to safeguard children from those who have perpetrated crimes of child abuse or sex abuse or drug use or those who have been convicted of felonies," Clinton said.

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who has said she was a victim of child abuse, attended the ceremony. "It is just the beginning of what needs to be done to make the world a safer place for children," she said.

Clinton also met with Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped from her California home during a slumber party and killed.

"What we tried to do was talk father to father about children's issues in this country," Klaas told reporters. Klaas said he is pushing anti-crime initiatives that "get these bad men off these streets, and get them off the streets for good."

Clinton said he wants Congress to act quickly on a major crime bill when it returns in January.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters, "I absolutely guarantee he's going to get" a bill with 100,000 police officers.

At the same time, the National Rifle Association, announcing its 1994 legislative agenda, called for mandatory sentences for murder, sexual assault and crimes involving weapons; stricter parole policies; and rights for crime victims.