The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUPPORT COMMUNITY POLICING” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1266-H1267 on Feb. 6, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORT COMMUNITY POLICING
Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will begin the debate on a new Republican crime bill. There will be six bills, and we expect the debate to go for a week to 10 days.
One of the first victims in the new GOP crime bill will be cops on the street, or community policing as we know it.
Cops on the street may be the first victim actually victimized and mugged under the new proposed crime bill. In August 1994, a crime bill was passed by this body. Even though I may not have supported the final committee conference version of the crime bill, I believe that the community policing program is an invaluable tool in the fight against crime.
No one law will stop crime, no one program will stop crime in this country. The revamping of the crime bill that is going to be proposed in the next day on this floor certainly will not stop crime in this country.
In order to stop crime we must all join in the fight against crime. We must all share that responsibility. Police officers cannot do it alone. We must each work in our respective communities and work with the police officers if we are going to have an impact on crime. That is what community policing is all about, law enforcement officers living and working in their beat, in their patrol area, to gain the respect and trust of the citizens they serve.
To gain that trust, respect and confidence, community policing requires the law enforcement to actually live in
[[Page H1267]] the community they serve. Therefore, if there is a crime, the initial complaint is handled by the police officer. The follow-up investigation is handled by the same police officer. That same police officer goes to the prosecutor to secure the warrant, and that is the same police officer that goes with you at the time of a criminal trial, if one takes place.
What community policing does is personalizes crime to build the trust and confidence between the community and a police officer. Your crime will no longer just be your crime, but it will be a crime that will be shared with your police officer. You are working with, you are standing with, you are living with, not only your community, but you are living with the police officer who is there to serve you.
As a police officer for almost 12 years myself, we had an old saying back when I was working the road: ``If you want to know what is going on in any community, ask a 12-year-old kid on a bicycle, for they know what is going on in their communities.''
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They will not tell the police officers what is going on until there is that confidence, that trust and that respect.
In the last crime bill, the community policing program, commonly referred to as Clinton Cops, was a program that is being used throughout this nation. It has only been in effect for the last 3 or 4 months. But the forerunner to this Clinton Cops program was back in 1978 and 1979, in the Department of Justice, a pilot program which was put forth in northern Michigan.
Northern Michigan, my district, is a sparsely populated area in the north end of Michigan, and three rural, sparsely-populated townships were put together to form a community policing program.
The program was a smashing success, with over 70 percent of all the reported crimes being solved.
Unsolved crimes from years past were cleaned up by the community police officer. In fact, in this case, it was a Michigan State police trooper, and he was referred to as the resident trooper.
It was the first community policing program in Michigan. Community policing is now currently at work in communities as rural as northern Michigan with our three townships or in the highly populated cities such as Houston. Community policing works because police officers live in the community and near the neighbors which they police.
These police with the faith and confidence and trust of the people they serve, their constituents.
It is one program that is highly successful. To dismantle the President's community police program would be a crime in and of itself. It will be dismantled if the votes hold up as they have in recent days, not because there is waste in the program. It will be dismantled not because it does not work, because we all know it does. The reason why it will be dismantled will be purely for political reasons.
In a crime bill, we need a combination of police, prevention and prisons. A balance of these three principles will be most successful in fighting crime.
We must leave community policing intact. We must leave the Clinton Cops program alone. It may only have been in existence for 3 or 4 months, but in city after city, in rural area throughout this country, it has worked.
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