Clinton vows to cut crime rate

PHILADELPHIA, April 11 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said Friday that if elected she would halve the murder rate in U.S. cities and hire 100,000 police officers.

Her plan, dubbed "Solutions for Safe and Secure Communities Now," also calls for a $1 billion competitive grant program to reduce the number of repeat offenders and the size of the population in prisons and juvenile lockups.

"It is a sad day in America when the president can find hundreds of billions of dollars to police another country's civil war, but cuts funding for police officers right here at home," Clinton said. "We deserve better."

Clinton said her $4 billion plan would be bankrolled by eliminating some outdated corporate and business subsidies.

The New York senator unveiled her plan at the West Philadelphia YMCA. She was joined by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Clinton was campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the state's April 22 primary, where she will do go head to head with rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.