Law enforcement officials call for more childcare funding

Iowa childcare and law-enforcement leaders called today for more federal funding for childcare.Law enforcement officials teamed up with childcare administrators to call on Iowa’s two U-S Senators to increase money for childcare when welfare reform comes up for renewal soon. Carroll County Attorney John Werden says most parents work, in towns as large as Des Moines and as small as Carroll, and he’d like to see more support for quality childcare. He says we’ll win the fight against crime when we spend as much on good daycare as we do on “room and board” for criminals in prison. Polk County Sheriff Dennis Andersen says kids left alone or with poor caretakers grow up in trouble. The Sheriff says he’s the keeper of those kids when they grow up, with 782 people in custody right now that he thinks didn’t get educational guidance they needed when young. Anderson says law-enforcement agencies can’t arrest and imprison their way out of crime rates. The officers and prosecutors at the press conference confirmed a new poll released today showing Iowa police chiefs, sheriffs and county attorneys believe investments in education and child care for young kids will prevent crime and violence as they grow up.