According tdn.com, police officers in Cowlitz County in Washington believe that by expanding preschool may help reduce or prevent crime.

Cops were visiting schools in the county to talk to students and to help push state lawmakers to “add 1,000 additional slots to the state-funded Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.”

“A long-range study of Michigan’s Perry Preschool found that at-risk children who did not participate in a high-quality program were five times more likely to be chronic offenders by the age of 27 than those who did not attend. Another Chicago study found at-risk kids were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by the age of 18 if they missed out on quality preschool.”

If so, and if implemented in Washington, a move of this nature will eventually cut costs as it is much cheaper to educate kids than it is to jail an adult.

Additional statistics from the state show that “[t]here are 235 children enrolled in the state-funded Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, plus an additional 300 clients in the federally funded Early Head Start serves pregnant moms and their kids up to 3 years old.”

That’s a lot of students, and if the program is extended to allow for more kids, it will certainly serve as a life changing event for many of the state’s low-income children.