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         5      INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF OF POLICE

         6             (IACP) SUMMIT ON YOUTH VIOLENCE

         7                     APRIL 25, 1996

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        15                    Sheraton National

        16                     900 Orme Street

        17                Arlington, Virginia 22201

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         1                  P R O C E E D I N G S

         2               CHIEF WALCHAK:  Thank you very much,

         3     ladies and gentlemen.

         4               While the IACP, through this summit,

         5     is working hard to reduce youth violence in

         6     America, that violence is not our concern

         7     alone.

         8               Another voice, in particular, over

         9     the past many years, has been strong and clear

        10     about the need to focus on our nation's youth

        11     if we are to reduce crime and improve the

        12     fabric of our communities.  And that voice has

        13     been Janet Reno's.

        14               While taking on the role of our

        15     nation's chief law enforcement officer, she has

        16     held a strong vision about the true nature of

        17     crime and the complexities of solving crime

        18     problems in our country.

        19               In particular, she has championed a

        20     systemic community based approach to reducing

        21     crime and violence in our cities and towns.

        22               I am particularly impressed with her



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         1     recent work as chair of the Coordinating

         2     Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

         3     Prevention.

         4               As we do our work here, we will no

         5     doubt benefit immensely from the insights

         6     contained in the Council's March 1966 report on

         7     combating violence and delinquency, The

         8     National Juvenile Justice Action Plan.

         9               And you can rest assured that any

        10     good work we do here will have the enlightened

        11     support of the Attorney General and her staff.

        12     We only need to look back at last year's summit

        13     to confirm that observation.

        14               Once we had published our

        15     recommendations on reducing murder and violent

        16     crime, the Attorney General publicly supported

        17     our work and complimented us on what she

        18     considered an excellent approach to this most

        19     complex problem.

        20               And if that weren't sufficient,

        21     through her encouragement and direction, the

        22     Bureau of Justice assistance, as Laurie



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         1     Robinson reported to us earlier --

         2     is now providing grants of 400,000 apiece to

         3     the cities of Richmond, California, and

         4     Richmond, Virginia, to implement the very

         5     recommendations contained in that report.

         6               It is clear to IACP that the Attorney

         7     General of the United States is tremendously

         8     supportive of local law enforcement and the

         9     work we do with community leaders through our

        10     annual summits.

        11               It is my great pleasure and honor to

        12     introduce the Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney

        13     General of the United States of America.

        14               General, welcome.

        15                    (Applause)

        16               ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO:  Thank you,

        17     Chief.  It is a real privilege to be here

        18     because I have been so impressed with IACP's

        19     actions on so many different fronts in the

        20     three years that I have been here in Washington

        21     serving as Attorney General.

        22               You make reference to your work on



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         1     the murder summit.  And I think that is a

         2     classic example of good public policy,

         3     hard-nose realism, and an action plan that I

         4     think can make a difference.

         5               It speaks volumes for the work that

         6     your association is doing.  It is an eloquent

         7     testimony to what police chiefs and line

         8     officers are doing around this country -- to

         9     recognize the complexity of the fight against

        10     crime, and to understand that it's not just

        11     punishment, not just prevention, not just

        12     policing, but that it is everybody coming

        13     together.

        14               You and the association set an

        15     example for this whole country, and it is so

        16     wonderful to be able to use those examples and

        17     keep them coming.

        18               It has been a real privilege for me,

        19     for most of my adult life, to be able to work

        20     with law enforcement.  As some of you know, my

        21     first summer job was in the Dade County

        22     Sheriff's Office, and I never thought that I



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         1     would follow through as I have.  But from that

         2     beginning, I have seen so many examples of

         3     police officers in action.

         4               As I travel around the country, in

         5     these three years, I've watched police officers

         6     put their lives on the line -- indeed, give

         7     their lives.  I've watched them work with young

         8     people.  I've watched them make arrests.  I've

         9     watched them testify.

        10               And in all their duties and all their

        11     functions, they are indeed on the front lines of

        12     this country.  They are committed.  They have a

        13     sense of public service.  They have a sense of

        14     making their community a better place.

        15               It is infectious and exciting.  And,

        16     President Clinton and I are just committed to

        17     doing everything we can to support the

        18     magnificent law enforcement officers of this

        19     nation and the great work that they are doing.

        20               I think perhaps I'm preaching to the

        21     choir.  I think I could probably sit down and

        22     then go home and you all would continue to do a



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         1     wonderful job.  I'm not sure that I have much

         2     to add, because your approach is so, I think,

         3     perfect.

         4               But I would just like to summarize

         5     the threads that I have seen over these last

         6     years that I think are essential to addressing

         7     the issue of youth violence.

         8               I don't think I have to define the

         9     problem.  You know what it is, and that's the

        10     reason you're here.

        11               But where do we begin?   I think,

        12     clearly, we have got to start someplace, and

        13     one place is to let our young people know that

        14     they're going to be accountable.

        15               Chief, a long time ago, 

        16     

        17     some of your officers came to me and

        18     said, "Ms. Reno, we have to something about

        19     these kids.  They don't think anything is going to

        20     happen to them in the juvenile justice system."

        21               And we have got to fashion punishment

        22     that's fair, firm, and fits the crime, that



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         1     people know that we mean business, know that

         2     they will be held accountable, know that there

         3     is no excuse for putting a gun up beside

         4     somebody's head and hurting them.

         5               But I think it is important for

         6     police chiefs to continue to speak out beyond

         7     the arena of the courtroom and into the

         8     correction system and to support our

         9     correctional officers who are doing such an

        10     extraordinary job, oftentimes with very limited

        11     resources, resources sufficient to deal with

        12     violent, serious, youthful offenders.

        13               We've got to let people know that we

        14     need facilities for these youthful offenders.

        15     Facilities that will provide security for the

        16     community, facilities that will give them the

        17     opportunity to complete educational

        18     requirements, to develop job skills, and to

        19     understand what it takes to live in a community

        20     when they return.

        21               We've got to let legislators and

        22     others understand that you can't take a kid who



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         1     has been neglected most of his life and send

         2     him off to a program for six months, and think

         3     you're going to change him so that he can go

         4     back to the community and be law-abiding.

         5               We have got to let those that fund

         6     these systems understand that it won't work if

         7     we keep them in a appropriate facility for a

         8     year, or the appropriate length of time, and

         9     then send them back to the community without

        10     after-care, without follow-up, without support

        11     mechanisms in the community.

        12               And so I think all of us have got to

        13     join together in reaching beyond the policing

        14     function to the correctional function and

        15     supporting the great efforts that are underway

        16     there.

        17               I am so proud of the work that police

        18     communities have done across this country.

        19     Community policing is exciting.  It takes

        20     different forms.  It adjusts to different

        21     communities.  It adjusts to different

        22     neighborhoods.  And that's what it's all about.



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         1               But there is something exciting

         2     happening as a result of it.  Police officers

         3     are walking through the community with their

         4     heads held high.  They're walking through the

         5     community as the ally of young people, as the

         6     ally and partner of citizens who care.  They

         7     are the cutting edge, not of dividing

         8     neighborhoods, but of bringing neighborhoods

         9     together through policing, through caring,

        10     through involvement.

        11               And very recently, on a tragic day

        12     that we learned of the crash in Bosnia, we were

        13     prepared to have a program at the Department of

        14     Justice on gangs and youth violence, and the

        15     President was coming over.

        16               One of the people that was there, a

        17     young man who was going to introduce him, spent

        18     a little time with me afterwards, after we had

        19     to announce the tragedy.  He was so touching.

        20     He was so sensitive to the issues, and the

        21     concerns, and the fears that we had.

        22               But then he talked about the



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         1     difference that that police officer had made in

         2     his life.  A lieutenant who was committed to

         3     policing, committed to improving his community.

         4               He had written out his remarks in

         5     which he was going to introduce the President.

         6     And I sent a copy to the President, and it is

         7     an eloquent testimony of the greatness of

         8     police officers who care.

         9               I'd like to diverge a moment.  This

        10     past weekend, Chief Walchak and I were in

        11     Budapest, Hungary, for the dedication of the

        12     International Law Enforcement Academy.

        13               You're reminded when you hear

        14     ministers of justice and police officers, and

        15     people in the streets talk about these emerging

        16     democracies, of how exciting it is to be alive

        17     now with democracy flourishing across the

        18     world.

        19               But that Friday, I was in Oklahoma

        20     City at the service memorializing the one year

        21     anniversary of that tragedy.  There was a

        22     different excitement.  There was a strength, a



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         1     courage, and a sense of accomplishment that

         2     surrounded those victims and their survivors.

         3               I get the same feeling from police

         4     officers who are on the streets, who are making

         5     a difference, who are reaching out and

         6     involving citizens and caring.

         7               And I just want to thank the officers

         8     who do that day in and day out.  They give us

         9     all a sense of encouragement that we can make a

        10     difference, that we can reduce violence, that

        11     we can deal with the problem of youth crime in

        12     this country.

        13               I would like to suggest, then, as we

        14     look at policing, as we look at the whole

        15     problem of corrections, that you join with us,

        16     with the States' Chief Justices in a pilot

        17     project aimed at what I call "Community

        18     Justice."  Lori may have already spoken of it.

        19               But just think of what we can do with

        20     community police officers, a community court

        21     situated in a high-crime area with significant

        22     delinquency, community correctional officers,



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         1     who are working with the community police

         2     Officers in a joint effort in after-care

         3     programs, involving the schools in a real

         4     community justice pilot project.

         5               I have spoken with the National

         6     Conference of State Chief Justices, who want to

         7     know how they can involve the courts.  A number

         8     of courts have tried to develop this concept of

         9     community justice.  And if we took community

        10     policing, community justice, community

        11     corrections and started to forge a real network

        12     that affected high-crime areas, we might really

        13     be able to make a difference.  And so I look

        14     forward to working with you, if you think well

        15     of that idea.

        16               I looked at

        17     too many pre-sentence investigations of 16 and

        18     17 year-olds, who I had just adjudicated as

        19     delinquents.  I could see steps along the way

        20     for those children where we could have

        21     intervened, to have made a difference in their

        22     life, to have kept them away from delinquency,



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         1     to have gotten them onto the straight and

         2     narrow a long time ago.

         3               I also realized then that we never

         4     have enough dollars, particularly in times of

         5     budget cuts, to save all those kids, if we

         6     waited each time until they were adjudicated as

         7     delinquent.  We have to start earlier.

         8               It is so exciting to see you

         9     recognizing that by having teachers here, by

        10     having community people here, by having young

        11     people here.

        12               Chief, it was one of the nicest

        13     things to walk in and to see young people,

        14     because they have so many good ideas about what

        15     we can do.  They're looking at it from a

        16     common-sense perspective.  And I also

        17     discovered that they are not afraid to speak

        18     out.

        19               But if we can pursue the concept of

        20     community justice, think of what we can do.

        21     And what so many of your communities are doing

        22     as they use community policing for the



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         1     foundation of reaching out to the schools.

         2               Another valuable resource are Parks

         3     and Recreation professionals, the National

         4     Association of Parks and Recreation

         5     professionals, is looking at children at risk

         6     as one of its major initiatives.

         7               Think of what we can do if police

         8     officers regularly link with Parks and

         9     Recreation specialists, who are trained in

        10     addressing this issue.  Again, these links can

        11     make such an extraordinary difference and,

        12     then, if the schools link with the parks, link

        13     with the business community.

        14               I've been to Harry Shorenstein's

        15     community, to Fort Caroline

        16     Elementary, and had the opportunity to see the

        17     business community as part and parcel of crime

        18     prevention program within the school itself.

        19               It's going back to people and making

        20     people believe that they can make a difference

        21     in their neighborhood by reaching out and

        22     saying, "It's not just my problem, it's not



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         1     just a police problem, it's everybody's

         2     problem."  And I think, working together, we

         3     can do that.

         4               Think of what we can do if Chief

         5     Burger develops -- and maybe he already has --

         6     a truancy prevention program, in North Miami

         7     Beach, but not just a program that picks up the

         8     child and takes them back to the school.

         9     Because the school, if it has no other

        10     resources, will call home.

        11               A mother may come get her child.  But

        12     if she doesn't, too often the public school

        13     system will send the child home on the bus that

        14     afternoon, not recognizing that that mother may

        15     be falling into the abyss of a cocaine

        16     addiction, right at that moment, that we could

        17     pull her out of real quickly, if we could get

        18     involved up front before it was too late.

        19               What if we developed teams with

        20     community police officers, school personnel,

        21     and youth counselors, or public health nurses,

        22     that can go together as a team, knock on the



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         1     door, and find out where that mother is, and

         2     why that child was truant, and why no one came

         3     to school to pick up that truant child.

         4               Why not then provide intervention?

         5     Not in terms of forced intervention if we do

         6     not have adequate claim for jurisdiction, but

         7     in terms of persuasive intervention that will

         8     convey to the person and the family at risk

         9     that we can make a difference and keep them

        10     from that brink of disaster.

        11               I have seen teams of community police

        12     officers working with others in making such an

        13     extraordinary difference.

        14               If we can send people to the moon, if

        15     we can teach people to read, to write, to do

        16     basic arithmetic, if we can teach them about

        17     computers -- which I still have a lot learn

        18     about  -- surely, we can teach people how to

        19     resolve conflicts without knives, and guns, and

        20     fists.

        21               So much is being done in terms of

        22     conflict resolution.  As you approach it in



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         1     your community, I urge you to make sure that is

         2     evaluated.  The reports that I get back are

         3     that many programs are put together with little

         4     thought and little concern for just how

         5     effective they are.

         6               But well-planned programs that are

         7     properly evaluated and adjusted as indicators

         8     suggest would be appropriate and can truly make a

         9     difference.  The Department of Justice

        10     would look forward to working with you in that

        11     area.

        12               I hope that there will be monies, as

        13     a result of the budget accord that was reached

        14     today, that communities will use their 

        15     block grant money for crime prevention programs, and    

        16     consider afternoon and evening programs.

        17               Wherever I go, young people who have

        18     been in trouble or who are in trouble, when I

        19     ask them, "What could be done to prevent the

        20     trouble in the first place?" they say,

        21     "Something to do in the afternoons and in the

        22     evenings, not just sports, but constructive



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         1     activities that can keep me out of trouble."

         2               Let's make sure that we do everything

         3     we can to see that those programs are funded.

         4               Let us encourage volunteers who can

         5     become involved, and who can make that

         6     difference, as well.

         7               But another point is children that I

         8     talk to, who have been in trouble, also say, "I

         9     need somebody to talk to, somebody who

        10     understands how hard it is to grow up in this

        11     country today, somebody that give me a pat on

        12     the back when I deserve it, but a swift

        13     talking-to when I deserve that as well."

        14               Oftentimes, it's the community police

        15     officer that's fulfilling that function.  But

        16     we need more mentors, through boys' and girls'

        17     clubs -- Big Brothers, Big Sisters -- making

        18     sure that there is no child that does have an

        19     adult who can listen, and who can advise.

        20               And as we consider how we reweave the

        21     fabric of society around our children and

        22     families at risk, I think it is important that



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         1     we focus on mentoring as well.

         2               One area I'm so proud of police

         3     involvement in is the whole issue of domestic

         4     violence.  In 1978, it was very difficult to

         5     get police chiefs interested in domestic

         6     violence.  And now, wherever I go, whether it

         7     be Iowa, Maine, or the Kentucky Legislature,

         8     people are saying that domestic violence and

         9     family violence is one of the major problems in

        10     their community or in their state.

        11               The Violence Against Women Act is

        12     providing monies to states.  We've made a down

        13     payment of $426,000 to each state.  And that

        14     will be enhanced, I hope, with the budget

        15     accorded, as it evolves in this day.

        16               The American Psychological

        17     Association, in a superb report, makes clear

        18     that violence is a learned behavior.  And one

        19     of the best schools for learning violence is in

        20     the home.  Unless we do something about

        21     violence in the home, we are never going to

        22     eliminate it on the streets or in the schools



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         1     of America.

         2               Think of what we can do if we develop

         3     teams of police officers sensitive to the

         4     issues of domestic violence, trained in how to

         5     respond to them, working with counselors,

         6     working with the domestic violence center that

         7     can provide procedures for TROs and one-stop

         8     shopping, if you will.

         9               Courts, with Judges, who are

        10     sensitive to and understanding of what is

        11     necessary in terms of judicial action to deal

        12     with the problem.

        13               We can make a difference, people tell

        14     me.  But it takes money.  I would like to

        15     translate it.  If we can intervene effectively

        16     in the cycle of violence so that your officers

        17     don't have to respond once, twice, three times

        18     to the same jurisdiction in a six-week period,

        19     and have that person incarcerated and go

        20     through the system, and back in, and back out.

        21               But if we can intervene once, we're

        22     going to be saving money in the long run.  If



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         1     we can adjust prosecutor and court schedules so

         2     that we have people in one group that can focus

         3     on this issue, because they have the training

         4     and sensitivity, we're going to save money.

         5     It's just a reallocation of resources.

         6               But, finally, one area that I hope

         7     you don't neglect, because I'm still -- and

         8     nothing in the three years that I've heard,

         9     since I came to Washington, has given me any

        10     reason to indicate -- as a matter of fact,

        11     nobody has ever denied it, refuted it, or

        12     disagreed with me -- all that we do, after a

        13     child is in school, won't make any difference

        14     unless, for a number of children, we start

        15     early when they're first born.

        16               Developing parenting programs that

        17     can provide strong, effective parenting,

        18     child-support enforcement mechanisms that can

        19     provide effective child support for all our

        20     children in this country, early childhood care

        21     that can provide the supervision, the structure

        22     that will enable those children to grow as



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         1     strong, effective human beings.

         2               Some of you have heard my experience,

         3     in Miami when I was taken to Jackson Memorial

         4     Hospital to try to figure out what to do about

         5     crack-involved infants and their mothers.

         6               The doctors then told me -- and every

         7     child development expert has confirmed -- that

         8     the first three years of life are the most

         9     formative, that that is when the child learns

        10     the concept of reward and punishment and

        11     develops a conscience.

        12               What will all the police, all the

        13     correctional officers, all the jails be worth

        14     18 years from now unless the child develops a

        15     conscience and learns the concept of

        16     punishment?

        17               What good will all the schooling be

        18     if they don't have the foundation upon which to

        19     build and to develop the skills that will

        20     enable them to earn a living wage and keep out

        21     of trouble?

        22               As we look at the whole picture of



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         1     youth violence, we've got to realize that what

         2     we are, in effect, doing is trying to develop

         3     mechanisms that will enable parents to do a

         4     good job of the single most difficult job in

         5     the world, which is to raise children.

         6               Police officers are on the front

         7     line, doing that in so many different ways,

         8     formally and informally, every day of the year.

         9               And your effort here today is just,

        10     to me, one of the most encouraging and hopeful

        11     signs that I see.  And I can't wait for the

        12     report.  I'll be there.

        13                    (Applause)

        14               CHIEF WALCHAK:  General, thank you

        15     very much for helping get us on the right path

        16     in this very important program.

        17               We appreciate your thoughts.  Your

        18     continued support is certainly evidenced by

        19     your taking so much time out of your busy

        20     schedule to be with us this morning.

        21               And thank you again so very much.  We

        22     know you have to leave.  Thank you on behalf of



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         1     all of us.  And we will get you the report.

         2                    (Applause)

         3                    (Whereupon, at approximately

         4                    10:45 a.m., Attorney General

         5                    Reno departed the summit.)

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