AUBURN — Police Chief Phil Crowell and Caribou police Chief Michael Gahagan met with Maine U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins on Wednesday to ask for help for families with young children.
Crowell and Gahagan asked for more access to early childhood education and to extend tax relief to families through the refundable child tax credit.
The police chiefs went to Washington on behalf of a national anti-crime organization, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids coalition, which has 5,000 law enforcement leaders as members. Gahagan is president of the nonprofit Fight Crime group, Crowell is vice president.
Crowell and Gahagan asked Snowe to support extending the child tax credit, which is scheduled to end this year. It provides help to low-income working parents. For example, it gives a tax credit of $1,000 per child for a family with two children and an annual income of $16,333, Crowell said.
Maine families need help, he said, adding one in five children in Maine live in poverty. The highest child poverty rate in Maine is Lewiston with 45 percent. “Auburn is second in Maine, unfortunately,” with a poverty rate of 26.5, Crowell said.
Studies show poverty is a reliable predictor of a child’s future, Crowell said. “Locally we know that. We see the juvenile crime rate and poverty rates and they correlate. Poverty, a greater number of single parents, absence of dad in the home, all those issues play into the child’s needs and developments and making poor decisions,” Crowell said. Calls to police for a youth out of control, involvement in drugs and crime “begin early on,” he said.
The police chiefs asked Collins to increase funding for programs such as Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grants. “I have spent some time at Auburn’s Head Start and got to see their program,” Crowell said. “It makes a huge difference, not just the classroom work but the home visiting part, which provides tools for parents.” Crowell said for every $1 spent on Head Start programs, “there’s a $10 to $16 return preventing youth crime. That is sound policy.”
Both Collins and Snowe were supportive and appreciated hearing from Maine police, “who are first in the door,” Crowell said.
Collins is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Snowe is not seeking re-election and the votes may come up after she leaves. But she will talk to other senators about it, Crowell said, adding “we wanted to thank her” for years of support.
– Bonnie Washuk
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- Auburn police Chief Phil Crowell, third from left, spoke with U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe, second from left, and Susan Collins last week to ask them to support tax laws and programs to help working-poor families with children. At left is Caribou police Chief Michael Gahagan and at right is Kim Gore, Maine director of Fight Crime: Invest In Kids.
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