They recognize that law enforcement is first the duty of local police and local government.
They recognize that the frontline headquarters against crime is in the home, the church, the city hall and the county courthouse and the statehouse--not in the far-removed National Capital of Washington.
But the people also recognize that the National Government can and the National Government should help the cities and the States in their war on crime to the full extent of its resources and its constitutional authority. And this we shall do.
This does not mean a national police force. It does mean help and financial support:
--to develop State and local master plans to combat crime,
--to provide better training and better pay for police, and
--to bring the most advanced technology to the war on crime in every city and every county in America.
There is no more urgent business before this Congress than to pass the Safe Streets Act this year that I proposed last year. That law will provide these required funds. They are so critically needed that I have doubled my request under this act to $100 million in fiscal 1969.
And I urge the Congress to stop the trade in mail-order murder, to stop it this year by adopting a proper gun control law.
This year, I will propose a Drug Control Act to provide stricter penalties for those who traffic in LSD and other dangerous drugs with our people.