Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President Urging Passage of the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act.

December 11, 1967

AN ANNOUNCEMENT today from the Department of Justice illustrates the awesome consequences of delaying new Federal support for our police departments and other agencies of criminal justice.

The Attorney General and the Director of the FBI announced that local police departments report a 16-percent increase in crime during the first 9 months of 1967.

This increase underscores the urgency of my request 10 months ago for the most comprehensive anticrime legislation in the Nation's history: the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act.

Had Congress acted promptly, our police and others on the frontline in the fight against crime would be receiving new support which they so desperately need. The Federal Government would now be investing $50 million in local agencies of criminal justice, laying the groundwork for a $300 million action program next year.

The delay has been costly to the American people. I urge that it not be continued. Once again, I urgently recommend passage of the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act as soon as possible. Mounting evidence of its need can be ignored only at our own peril.

Note: The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was approved by the President on June 19, 1968 (Public Law 90-351, 82 Stat. 197).
The statement was released at San Antonio, Texas.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Urging Passage of the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238055

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