Sacramento Police Chief to Testify on Benefits of Dropout Prevention

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel will testify Friday, Aug. 28 at 9 a.m. at the state capitol at the first hearing of the newly-convened Assembly Select Committee on Lowering California’s High School Dropout Rates, chaired by Assemblymember Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills).

“Youth who drop out of school not only lose out on educational opportunities, they are also more likely to get in trouble with the law,” said Braziel, a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California – a bipartisan, anti-crime organization led by 400 sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys and victims of violence.

Research shows that dropouts are three and one-half times more likely to get arrested and eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than youth who graduate from high school. A report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids indicates that increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points could prevent 500 murders and more than 20,000 aggravated assaults every year in California.

Braziel will testify that it is important to identify kids who are starting to show early warning signs of dropping out, like chronic truancy, which is a predictor of both school failure and future criminal behavior. Addressing truancy is a priority for the Sacramento Police Department, which helps operate three Attendance Centers where officers can take truant youth and get them the services they and their families need to help these students stay in school.

“If we want to keep our communities safe, the state must continue investing in approaches that are shown to have a positive impact on dropout prevention,” Braziel said.

Other witnesses at the hearing will include: California Department of Education Director of Data Management Keric Ashley; California Dropout Research Project Director Russ Rumberger; Stockton Unified School District Superintendent Anthony Amato; and a high school student.

Assemblymember Huber convened this committee to examine the effect that dropouts are having on local communities and the economy, as well as to ensure that successful models are being shared statewide so lawmakers can identify innovative solutions to the problem.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California is a bipartisan, non-profit, anti-crime organization led by 400 sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys, and victims of violence. Its mission is to take a critical look at the research about what really works to keep kids from becoming criminals. Among the strategies proven to be effective are preschool, after-school, dropout-prevention, child abuse and neglect prevention programs, and intensive interventions for juvenile offenders.

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Posted by Michelle Ventress on Aug 27 2009. Filed under News, Public Safety, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.