Proclamation 6733

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Finding solutions to the problems of crime and violence must be a top priority for our Nation. Parents should not be afraid to let their children walk to school alone. Children should never hesitate to play in neighborhood playgrounds. No longer should innocent Americans of all ages find their lives forever changed by crime. Americans have endured enough.

Our Nation made a major leap forward in the effort to find lasting solutions when I signed into law the long-awaited crime bill-the toughest, smartest Federal attack on crime in our history. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act is the first major Federal anti-crime legislation enacted in 6 years. It authorizes more than $5 billion in Federal assistance over the next 6 years to help States and communities implement a broad range of new crime and drug abuse prevention programs.

Prevention is the first, critical step in my Administration's three-pronged strategy for crime control. Accompanied by stringent law enforcement and by certain, appropriate punishment, prevention is one of our Nation's most effective weapons against crime, violence, and the spread of illicit drugs. Across the country, people are already working to bring about positive change in their communities. They are establishing neighborhood watches and citizen patrols. They are working with law enforcement officers to close down drug houses. They are cleaning up playgrounds and parks and creating drug-free school zones. They are taking back their streets from all those who would seek to cause harm.

The National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Advertising Council, the Crime Prevention Coalition, and the National Crime Prevention Council-is also working to help implement crime prevention efforts in American urban, suburban, and rural areas and on U.S. military bases worldwide. The Crime Prevention Coalition sponsors Crime Prevention Month each October to emphasize the importance of personal involvement and to promote community-police partnerships for crime control. Crime Prevention Month challenges every American to take individual and collective action to prevent crime. It teaches us that working together, we can make a difference.

The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 363, has designated October 1994 as "Crime Prevention Month" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 1994 as Crime Prevention Month. I encourage residents in communities throughout the Nation to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and nineteenth.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:51 p.m., October 7, 1994]