I HAVE today sent to Congress the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act of 1967. It calls for the most comprehensive attack on crime ever undertaken. Crime is a local problem and must be solved by local authorities. But the Federal Government can help to train better police forces and give them modern equipment--to stem the rising tide of organized crime, to stop the illegal flow of narcotics, to keep lethal weapons out of the wrong hands, guarantee the right of privacy of every American citizen.
Our country's laws must be respected; order must be maintained; crime must be controlled. I am asking the Congress to act now to help insure the public safety.
Note: The President recorded the statement for radio and television broadcast. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Message on Crime in America. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/237865