Today, we are awarding 5,500 police officers to communities all across America. Everywhere I go mayors and police chiefs and sheriffs tell me that community policing is helping them to fight crime and lower the crime rate. And the tide is turning. Yesterday, the FBI reported that the murder rate has dropped 12 percent in the last year. That's the largest decline in the murder rate since the FBI started keeping statistics 35 years ago.
Violent crime is down five percent overall from last year's rate.
We are turning the tide. We are beginning to win the fight against crime. This is no time to turn back the clock. The crime bill is working because it provides funds for police officers directly to police departments. Unfortunately, this bill replaces this initiative which is guaranteed to put 100,000 police on the street with a block grant that has no guarantees at all.