Los Gatos Police Chief Urges Support for Anti-Crime Youth Programs

Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Chief Scott Seaman visited Sacramento Tuesday, April 2 to urge legislators and administration officials to support programs that keep children in school and away from crime.

Chief Seaman was joined by other community leaders who are members of the national anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California.

He called on Republican and Democratic legislators to restore state funding for programs scientifically proven to steer kids away from crime, such as high-quality early education and to prevent dropouts by reducing out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.

Research shows that children who receive high-quality early education and care are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to ever become involved in crime, the organization said in a news release.

Yet more than $54 million in cuts to half- and full-day preschool were enacted in 2012, which resulted in more than 12,500 low-income 3- and 4-year-olds being denied access to state-funded preschool, according to the organization.

The chief also urged lawmakers to support two bills on school discipline reform, including AB 420, authored by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and co-sponsored by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, that would limit extreme uses of “disruption or willful defiance” as grounds for suspensions.