ILLINOIS–DeKalb County Area Law Enforcement Promote Preschool in Order to Cut Crime
Prosecutor, state representative, and state senator visit local preschool program
FOR RELEASE: 11 A.M. Tuesday, October 11
Contact: Alena Chaps
415-812-2910 (cell)
DeKalb, IL– DeKalb County State’s Attorney Clay Campbell visited a preschool class in DeKalb today to emphasize the importance of preschool in supporting safe communities. He was joined by State Representative Robert Pritchard and State Senator Christine Johnson to read to preschoolers at Tyler Elementary School.
The national anti-crime organization FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS is sponsoring the event as part of a law enforcement campaign to promote support for high-quality early learning.
Pointing to evidence that preschool cuts future violent crime and saves money, the law enforcement leaders called on the General Assembly to restore funding for preschool programs in the state budget.
The law enforcement leaders expressed concern that cuts in funding have meant the loss of four preschool classrooms in DeKalb County, a 16% reduction in the number of kids in state preschool.
“If we in law enforcement are not talking about programs that prevent crime, we would be like firefighters who only put out fires and fail to talk about fire safety,” State’s Attorney Campbell said.
Over the past nine years, Illinois has made great strides in expanding preschool
opportunities for families. Even with the recent falloff because of budget cuts and
state’s ongoing bill paying crisis, DeKalb County has added over 140 slots for 3-and 4-year olds, but these slots have not grown proportionally with the increasing number of families with young children.
Most families in DeKalb County are unable to access high-quality programs because
of cost. There remain almost 1700 3- and 4-year-olds not enrolled in state preschool or Head Start from families who cannot afford to pay for quality preschool on their own. The percentage of children enrolled in publicly funded preschool in DeKalb County is the second lowest in the state.
Law enforcement’s experience and rigorous research supports the value of preschool.A study of the Perry Preschool in Michigan tracked at-risk children who attended the program and similar children that did not attend. At age 27, adult non-participants were five times more likely to have been arrested for drug felonies and twice as likely to have been arrested for violent crimes. Another study of the publicly funded Child-ParentCenters in Chicago found that kids left out of the program were 27 percent more likely to have been arrested by age 28 than those who participated.
“Our members know that vital aspects of public safety are policing and prosecution.
Those are important tools to keeping Illinois safe,” said Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Illinois State Director Tim Carpenter. “We cannot turn our backs on other vital tools—
like preschool—that prevent crime from happening.”
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS ILLINOIS has 325 members, and is the state office of a national, non-profit, bipartisan, anti-crime organization of more than 5,000 police
chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, leaders of law enforcement organizations, and victims of
crime.
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