Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Action

May 17, 2007

Dear Presidential Candidate:

On behalf of the 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, and victims of violence who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, we ask you to make investments in children from birth to age five an important part of your presidential campaign agenda.

We believe that the most effective way to ensure public safety and to fight crime is to ensure that kids never become criminals. Therefore, we work hard to promote investments in programs proven to get kids started on the right track and keep them there: early education programs like Head Start, Early Head Start, and quality child care; home visitation to support at-risk mothers so they are the best parents they can be; after-school programs to keep kids off the streets in the prime time for juvenile crime; and effective programs to help troubled teens get back on track.

We would be pleased to meet with you, at the time or location of your choosing, to discuss how these proven programs prevent crime.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids will be evaluating the presidential candidates' positions on early education and will be issuing a "report card" about which candidates have made a commitment to a strong agenda of early investments. As the standard for our evaluation, we are seeking an investment of $10 billion a year in new funding for high-quality early education programming for children from birth to age five by the end of the successful candidate's first term as president.

If you make initiatives for our youngest kids a key plank in your platform, as described above, we would be pleased to do a public event with you to help educate the public about the importance of investing in kids.

The members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids across the country care deeply about making our communities safer for everyone, and we know that the best way to make our communities safe is to make sure our children get the right start in life.

We hope we can count on your support for children and crime prevention, and we stand ready to provide any information we can to facilitate your exploration of the issues. For more information, or to schedule a meeting, please contact our vice president, Jeff Kirsch (jkirsch@fightcrime.org, 202-776- 0027, ext. 115).

Sincerely,

Richard T. Ahlstrom, Chief of Police, Cedar Falls, IA
Dennis W. Anderson, Sheriff, Polk County, IA
Dennis Conard, Sheriff, Scott County, IA
Harry R. Daugherty, Chief of Police, Marion, IA
Richard H. Davidson, County Attorney, Page County, IA
Timothy W. Dille, County Attorney, Jefferson County, IA
Charles Eddy, Sheriff, Buena Vista County, IA
Gene Ellis, Chief of Police, DeWitt, IA
Thomas J. Ferguson, County Attorney, Black Hawk County, IA
Paul H. Fitzgerald, Sheriff, Story County, IA
John L. Gray, Chief of Police, Altoona, IA
Brian D. Guy, Chief of Police, Clinton, IA
Thomas F. Heater, Sheriff, Greene County, IA
Stephen H. Holmes, County Attorney, Story County, IA
Todd M. Holmes, County Attorney, Kossuth County, IA
Patrick C. Jackson, County Attorney, Des Moines County, IA
Dean A. Kruger, Sheriff, Humboldt County, IA
Randy W. Krukow, Sheriff, Clay County, IA
Marty Larsen, Sheriff, Chickasaw County, IA
Brian Mickelson, Sheriff, Webster County, IA
Louis C. Modlin, Chief of Police, Prairie City, IA
Jack M. O'Donnell, Chief of Police, West Des Moines, IA
Larry Richtsmeier, Sheriff, Franklin County, IA
Connie S. Ricklefs, County Attorney, Jones County, IA
Kenneth J. Runde, Sheriff, Dubuque County, IA
Michael W. Tupper, Chief of Police, Nevada, IA
Kim B. Wadding, Chief of Police, Dubuque, IA
John Werden, County Attorney, Carroll County, IA
Michael L. Wolf, County Attorney, Clinton County, IA
Gregory C. Dodge, Chief of Police, Epping, NH
Peter Morency, Chief of Police, Berlin, NH
Wayne M. Sheehan, Chief of Police, Kensington, NH
Arthur Walker, Chief of Police, Keene, NH
Robert E. Wharem, Chief of Police, Pittsfield, NH
Anthony L. DeMeo, Sheriff, Nye County, NV
Hector R. Garcia, Chief of Police, Clark Co. School Dist., NV
Douglas C. Gillespie, Sheriff, Las Vegas, NV
Michael A. Haley, Sheriff, Washoe County, NV
Mark S. Paresi, Chief of Police, North Las Vegas, NV
Ronald V. Skinner, Sheriff, Pershing County, NV
Dan Watts, Sheriff, White Pine County, NV
Harvey M Becker, Chief of Police, Goose Creek, SC
Anthony Dennis, Sheriff, Sumter County, SC
Harold Grice, Sheriff, Dillon County, SC
Tim Kemp, Chief of Police, Hartsville, SC
Leon Lott, Sheriff, Richland County, SC
Larry McNeil, Chief of Police, Bennettsville, SC
Donald L. Wilcox, Chief of Police, Hanahan, SC
Jon R. Zumalt, Chief of Police, North Charleston, SC
Jerry A. Blough, Chief of Police, Margate, FL
Donald L. Carey, Chief of Police, Melbourne, FL
Lionel A. Cote, Chief of Police, Satellite Beach, FL
Robert L Crowder, Sheriff, Martin County, FL
Edward G. Hillery Jr., Chief of Police, Ocean Ridge, FL
Rick Lincoln, Chief of Police, Lantana, FL
Earl Moreland, State's Attorney, 12th Judicial Circuit, FL
Casimir J. Piwowarski Jr., Chief of Police, Welaka, FL
Erik Sandvik, Chief of Police, Bartow, FL
James H. Scarberry, Chief of Police, Hollywood, FL
Joseph L. Schroeder, Chief of Police, Delray Beach, FL
Harry Shorstein, State Attorney, Fourth Judicial Circuit, FL
John F. Timoney, Chief of Police, Miami, FL

Presidential Candidates' Commitment to Early Education

The 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, and victims of violence who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids are asking the candidates for president to release a specific plan about investments in at-risk kids from birth to age 5.

Investments in proven, high-quality programs help kids get the right start in life, increasing the chance they will succeed in school and in life - and decreasing the odds they will get caught up in criminal behavior.

We are looking for a commitment of $10 billion in new funding for high-quality early education programs in the last year of the new president's first term.

Tested approaches to getting kids started on the right track include:

Intensive home visiting for the most at-risk mothers to coach them to be the best parents they can be, reduce child abuse and neglect, improve the health of parents and children, and help the parents to be the child's first teachers.
Early Head Start to help kids age 0-3 and their parents start out on the right track and strengthen their families.
Quality Child Care to help ensure that the child will be in a safe environment that promotes their development while the parents are working.
Quality pre-kindergarten, on a voluntary basis, for 3- and 4-year olds to help them get ready for and succeed in kindergarten and to close the gap between at-risk kids and their more advantaged peers.

These programs must be of high-quality to be successful, which means funding must be adequate to fund the programs and to staff them properly.

Do you commit to $10 billion in new spending on quality early care and education for children from birth to age 5 in the last year of your first term?

___ Yes ___ No

To answer that question, or for more information, contact Jeff Kirsch at jkirsch@fightcrime.org, 202-776-0027, ext. 115.