Investing in child care supports workers, safety
Police officers have an inherently stressful job. Amid the stress, it is critical that they stay sharp when they're assessing a situation within the span of a few seconds or while skillfully interrogating a suspect.
The last thing they should be worrying about in those moments is whether their young kids are in a safe and nurturing learning environment.
Unfortunately, I've seen many law enforcement officers — including those in my department — struggle to find high-quality child care for their babies and toddlers. Many of us in law enforcement work non-traditional hours, which makes finding already scarce child care even harder.
The lack of quality child care has even led to our department losing great officers. So I know firsthand the need for more investments in child care quality, access, and affordability: not just to expand services for officers, but to increase access for families across the state.
In Missouri, nearly three-quarters of children aged birth to 5 have all available parents in the workforce. This means that they need care during the workday. Unfortunately for many Missouri families, especially in rural areas, affordable, high-quality care can be hard to find. Before the pandemic, more than half of Missourans lived in a “child care desert,” where there are more than three times as many children as available child care slots. Postpandemic, the problem has only grown worse, as many child care providers have had to close — sometimes permanently —due to the crisis.
This has left many families in a situation where things we used to take for granted are now a struggle. Many young children growing up in Missouri don't have access to the programs I enjoyed in my youth: programs that helped me learn, develop social skills, and obtain positive role models early in life. Today, many parents have to decide between taking pay cuts or fewer hours at work in order to care for their kids, or paying massive out-of-pocket expenses for their kids to go to child care. In Missouri, a family pays an average of $11,000 per child per year for infant care alone — more expensive than in-state tuition for a public college.
I myself did not grow up with the most privileged upbringing. And I've made sure that, as part of my role as Chief of Police for Bolivar, our department works to help kids who are in difficult circumstances. Every year we organize “Shop With A Cop” to make Christmas special for kids across Polk County. And we will soon launch a program called Better Bearcats in partnership with Southwest Baptist University to build collaborations between law enforcement, academia, social work, and behavioral science students to better serve our community.
While this community-based work is important, there's more that needs to be done for Missouri's kids. We know that in order to help parents and kids in Missouri, we need more investments in early childhood education programs and its workforce. This includes investments in child care subsidies for low-income families, with a graduated rate for infants and toddlers. And expanded child care tax credits and pre-K slots to ensure that families across Missouri can afford and access the quality care their children need.
Investing in our youngest kids is critical to helping our economy by ensuring that parents can participate in the workforce, and to supporting the well-being and future success of our youngest. As Chief, I care deeply about the safety of our communities, but also for the foundational support systems that prevent crime from taking root. By investing in affordable, high-quality early childhood education programs, we are investing in a safer, more prosperous future for Missouri and its families.
Mark Webb is the Chief of Police for Bolivar and a member of the nonprofit Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.
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