Bridgton Chief of Police Lyons Says Head Start Cuts Crime
Nov 1st 2006
Bridgton Chief of Police David Lyons visited the Bridgton Head Start Center, toured the program, read to the kids and said that Head Start is one of the most effective ways of cutting later crime. He joined other Maine law enforcement leaders on a statewide tour of Maine Head Start Centers to raise awareness of the crime prevention benefits of the program.
Chief Lyons is a member of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE, a bipartisan anti-crime organization of 72 police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. It is part of a national organization of more than 3,000 law enforcement members. Mary Small, state director of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE, joined Chief Lyons on the visit.
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE estimates that by providing high-quality Head Start to all eligible at-risk Maine children, as many as 150 children could be prevented from committing crimes when they grow up.
"If we want to keep children in school and away from crime, we have to invest in Head Start that will give them the right start in life," said Lyons. "Head Start gives kids the opportunity they need to grow up into productive, law-abiding citizens."
Over 1,400 violent crimes are committed and more than 8,500 kids are arrested each year in Maine. Research analyzed by FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE shows that at-risk kids who attend Head Start or other quality preschool programs are dramatically less likely to commit future crime. One national survey of Head Start graduates found that adults who attended Head Start as children were nearly 10 percent less likely to be arrested or charged with a crime than their siblings who did not attend Head Start.
Yet, the crime prevention benefits of Head Start do not reach all Maine children. Nationally, one-third of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are unable to access Head Start due to a lack of funding. Seventy percent-or 8,000 children-of Maine's at-risk kids who are eligible for Head Start and Early Head Start are shut out of classrooms and programs.
People's Regional Opportunity Program runs the Bridgton Head Start. The center serves 17 children and their families.
A landmark study of the High/Scope Perry Preschool program randomly assigned at-risk kids to attend a high-quality preschool program similar to Head Start. By the age of 40, the grown-up children who did not attend the preschool were four times more likely to have been arrested for drug felonies and nearly twice as likely to be arrested for multiple violent crimes. Chicago's government-funded Child-Parent Centers found that at-risk kids left out of the program were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested for a violent crime before their 18th birthday compared to similar kids who participated in the program. This program will have prevented 33,000 crimes by the time the participants reach adulthood.
"Starting at-risk kids early on with Head Start will reduce crime later on for all Mainers," said Small. "Maine's law enforcement leaders encourage Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to increase federal dollars to reach all eligible kids in Maine."
To reap the best crime-fighting benefits from Head Start, Small said the program needs to improve the training and education of teachers. Several proposals are coming before the U.S. Congress that would require 50 percent of Head Start teachers to have a bachelor's degree or higher by 2011.
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