Promising city mayors "help is on the way," President Clinton made a down payment Monday on his pledge to put 100,000 police officers on the streets. He awarded $50 million in grants for 650 officers.
Expanding his anti-crime campaign, Clinton also signed the National Child Protection Act to establish a national database that tracks child abusers and helps keep them out of day-care centers."This act will help us take our streets, our neighborhoods and institutions we rely on back to American values and American children," Clinton said.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, a victim of child abuse and supporter of the legislation, attended the bill-signing ceremony. "It is just the beginning of what needs to be done to make the world a safer place for children," she said.
Later, Clinton planned to meet with Marc Klaas, the father of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old girl kidnapped from her California home during a slumber party and killed.
In a morning conference call, Clinton promised six city mayors that the police grants were only a first step in his anti-crime crusade.