Oregon Law Enforcement Leaders Meet with U.S. Senators Wyden and Merkley

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 2, 2010) — A group of law enforcement leaders from Oregon met with U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today on Capitol Hill to discuss investments in early care and education as an effective way to reduce crime in Oregon. They also met with Representative Greg Walden (OR-2) to discuss the federal budget and Representative David Wu (OR-1) to discuss opportunities to reduce crime through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger, Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris and Cornelius Chief of Police Paul Rubenstein called on Wyden and Merkley, both members of the Senate Budget Committee, to support increased investment in Head Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care and Development Block Grants in the 2011 federal budget.

The law enforcement professionals cited research showing that providing at-risk kids with high-quality early care and education can significantly reduce the likelihood that they will commit crime as adults.

We can arrest, re-arrest and incarcerate until the cows come home, but we also need to focus on solutions that will help us prevent crime in the first place, Sheriff Evinger said. Its my job to lock up dangerous criminals, but the research shows that providing these early interventions can help us avoid many cases of incarceration.

 

Long-term research studies show that high-quality early childhood programs can improve school success and reduce arrest rates. A study of the Perry Preschool Program in Michigan found that at-risk kids left out of the program were five times more likely to be chronic offenders compared to similar kids who did attend. The kids who attended were also 44 percent more likely to graduate from high school.

 

Its considerably cheaper paying for early childhood programs today, rather than paying for prison ten or twenty years from now. We have an opportunity to cut crime, save lives, and to save taxpayer dollars if we invest today, Chief Rubenstein said.

 

The law enforcement leaders called on Senators Wyden and Merkley to make room in the 2011 budget for nearly $1 billion in additional funding for Head Start and Early Head Start and an additional $1.6 for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, as proposed in the Obama Administrations 2011 budget. They also asked that the Senate Budget Committee make room for a new significant investment in early childhood development, the proposed Early Learning Challenge Fund.

 

They also extended their support for an expansion of the federal child tax credit as an effective way to reduce child poverty. Research shows that children living in poverty are at greater risk of growing up to be criminals and that lifting more children out of poverty can reduce criminal behavior. The law enforcement officials called on the senators to continue to improve the child tax credit, which was expanded through the 2009 Recovery Act, by making room in the 2011 budget for a child tax credit refundable to the first dollar of earned income.

 

Sheriff Evinger, D.A. Norris and Chief Rubenstein are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national anti-crime organization of 5,000 police chiefs, prosecutors, sheriffs and violence survivors, including 148 in Oregon.

 

The Oregon state office is located in Beaverton and can be reached toll free by calling 1-866-512-3245.

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