Sheriff’s Corner: Early childcare and education

As the Sheriff of Brunswick County, I can tell you that high quality, early childcare and education programs are critical strategies for reducing crime; thus lowering corrections costs and saving taxpayers money.

While the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, along with our law enforcement colleagues throughout the county, work hard to reduce crime, the state still spends more than a billion dollars on corrections.

High-quality, early education can keep children from ever starting down the expensive path leading to prison. This is why I support SmartStart of Brunswick County.

According to Linda Gironda, executive director, 90 percent of critical brain development happens during the first five years. The actual wiring that forms the brain’s architecture happens in infancy and early childhood. How that wiring is formed, either as a strong or weak foundation, depends on a child’s earliest experiences.

For a strong foundation, children need strong families and environments that support healthy outcomes.

Early care and education programs are safe and provide opportunities for learning. High-quality early education programs yield higher graduation rates, reduced crime, higher earnings, less reliance on social services and better jobs.

This broader societal impact is so significant law enforcement professionals like us recognize early childhood investments are essential to our ability to prevent crime.

There are only 2,000 days from the time a baby is born to when that child begins kindergarten. I know investing in those early days produces a lifetime of results for the children and the communities in which they live.