Inside Report (1)

Is it time for federal "disaster relief" for communities especially hard-hit by crime? Former US Attorney General Griffin Bell thinks it may be. In effect, he says , such a program has already begun with Atlanta, which has received several million dollars to help with its investigation of the murders of 27 black youths.

Other communities should be eligible for such help in the case of a major ordeal, he says. One potential snag: how to define a "crime disaster."

As co-chairman of the current attorneys-general task force on violent crime, Bell is well positioned to have his idea consi dered seriously.m