Washington Law Enforcement Leaders Meet with U.S. Senators Cantwell and Murray
Mar 16th 2010
For Immediate Release: March 16, 2010
Media Contact: Ted Eismeier
Cell: 315-335-922, Office: 202-464-5350
E-mail: ted@fightcrime.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 2, 2010) -- Law enforcement leaders from Washington State met with U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell today on Capitol Hill to discuss investments in early care and education as an effective way to reduce crime in Washington. Yakima Chief Sam Granato and Mason County Sheriff Casey Salisbury 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.
The law enforcement professionals called on Senator Murray, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, to support increased investment in Head Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care and Development Block Grants in the 2011 federal budget.
Chief Granato of Yakima, an area where reducing gang membership problems is a priority, said that early interventions are crucial for preventing future juvenile crime.
"I know from many years of policing experience that opening a school door can help close a prison cell. That's why investing in early childhood education and care for our youngest kids must be a central strategy in our efforts to improve public safety," Chief Granato said.
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.
The law enforcement leaders called on Senator Murray 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 Administration's 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 thanked Senator Murray for being a champion for funding quality home-visiting programs, another research-based approach that helps improve schools readiness, cut child abuse and reduce future crime, and asked her to continue to lead efforts to secure new federal investments in that area.
"It's a costly failure for society when young people fall behind in school, drop out and turn to crime. We know that providing young children with access to quality early learning helps reduce the likelihood that they'll end up as juvenile offenders or adult criminals," Sheriff Salisbury said.
Chief Granato and Sheriff Salisbury 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 problem behavior that can lead to crime. The law enforcement officials called on Senator Cantwell to continue to improve the child tax credit, which was expanded through the 2009 Recovery Act, by extending the child tax credit to the first dollar of earned income. Cantwell is a member of the Finance Committee, which oversees tax policy issues in the U.S. Senate.
Chief Granato and Sheriff Salisbury are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national anti-crime organization of 5,000 police chiefs, prosecutors, sheriffs and violence survivors, including 223 in Washington State.
###
