CLINTON TO REACH 100,000 POLICE

WASHINGTON, - Two days after his White House summit on
youth violence, President Clinton is set to outline his latest anti-
crime plan and celebrate the completion of his campaign promise on hiring
100,000 new
police.

With the president's latest batch of grants to cities under the
Community Oriented Policing Services program, Clinton will fulfil his
1992 campaign promise of helping communities hire 100,000 additional
officers.

Along with celebrating the completion of his familiar campaign slogan
commitment, Clinton plans in his latest anti-crime package to try to
address one of the most persistent criticisms of the COPS program: Its
failure to include enough money for cities to afford their new police
in the long run.

The COPS program, part of Clinton's 1994 anti-crime package, was
budgeted for $8.8 billion over six years. It pays local communities 75
percent of
an officer's salary the first year, 50 percent in the second and 25
percent in the third, up to a maximum of $75,000 per officer for three
years.

But critics have cited figures such as those by the Justice Department
showing the median cost per local, county and state officer is $66,500
for a single year, including salary, benefits and equipment.

As part of a five-point anti-crime proposal Clinton plans to unveil
before another campaign-style Rose Garden assembly of uniformed police
officers, the

president will repeat his pleas for Congress to extend the COPS
program beyond 100,000 officers and add money to help cities better
afford the extra police.

Clinton's new package also includes proposed measures to better crack
down on "international crime,'' including tougher rules and penalties
concerning the possession of biological agents and weapons.

And Clinton, who responded to the high school killings in Littleton,
Colo., by hosting a White House conference Monday on youth violence,
planned to include proposals to punish and prevent juvenile crime.

At the White House conference, several major gun manufacturers
announced their support for stricter firearm laws that Clinton has
proposed, including prohibiting violent juveniles from ever buying
guns, raising the minimum age for handgun purchases from 18 to 21,
and holding adult owners responsible for guns that children use in a
crime.

The president's five-point plan also includes additional
recommendations for fighting drugs, and for providing more protection
to crime victims.