Police chiefs say preschool now prevents crime later

Quality preschool is an important crime-prevention tool, say the Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect police chiefs.

Gerald Mourning of Arlington Heights and John Dahlberg of Mount Prospect spoke Thursday at Forest View Elementary School in Mount Prospect. Then, with state Rep. Mark Walker of Arlington Heights, they read a story to a group of 3- and 4-year-olds.

The chiefs represent the organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois, which has 300 police chiefs and others in law enforcement as well as victims of crime as members.

The group is concerned the state legislature cut funding for preschools by 10 percent. The state currently is paying for 12,422 three- and 4-year-olds in suburban Cook County to be in preschool.

Almost 26,000 children in the suburbs are in families that cannot afford to pay for quality preschool on their own, the group said in a statement.

Dahlberg said in his experience, social and emotional skills as well as academic skills are important.

"Young people who we encounter in the system, in taking a good hard look at their early childhood development, there was a void," he said.

"They walk into the door of the school and already they're behind the curve," he added. "They get depressed, they feel like outsiders. They look for acceptance, and who gives them acceptance - gangs and other outsiders. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Mourning said taxpayers can invest in preschool or pay later when children grow up and commit crimes.

Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 serves about 300 "high risk" preschoolers each year, said Melissa Ward, early childhood coordinator. Their teachers have bachelor degrees and are certified to teach young children.

Despite the cut in state funds, District 59 is not cutting its programs and will make up the difference with local money, said Superintendent Dan Schweers.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois presented studies from Michigan and Chicago showing youngsters in quality preschools are considerably less likely to commit crimes by the time they are 18 and as adults.