PRESIDENT PRAISES ANTI-CRIME HANDBOOK.

Byline: Associated Press

Taking on another bit piece of the nation's crime problem, the Clinton administration gave police a ``how-to'' manual Saturday on fighting witness intimidation by gang members and drug dealers.

``We must not allow the voice of justice to be frightened into silence by the violent threat of gangs,'' President Clinton said in heralding the Justice Department's 150-page handbook for police officers, prosecutors and judges.

Clinton, addressing the nation in his weekly radio broadcast, also promised to send Congress broad legislation combating youth crime and drug abuse. He said it would be the top law-and-order priority of his second term.

``I want every police officer, prosecutor and citizen in America working together to keep our young people safe and young criminals off the streets,'' Clinton said.

The Justice Department blueprint for investigating and prosecuting gangs aims to curb the problem of witness intimidation, which, according to a 1994 department survey of 192 prosecutors, was a major problem for half the country's big-city prosecutors.

Researchers compiling the handbook found only two comprehensive witness-intimidation prevention programs - in Washington and Baltimore.

The manual is the latest of Clinton's small-scale initiatives, many of which were initially proposed last year as part of his re-election strategy to appeal to voters with low-cost measures that directly affect their quality of life. School uniforms and curfews were among his ideas for curbing youth violence.

On Saturday, the president did not outline plans for the package, but it is likely to reprise proposals included in his 1996 Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Control Act, which died in the Republican-run Congress.

For their part, Republicans also promised Saturday new initiatives to crack down on juvenile offenders and clean up schools.