Santa Fe's top cops say they are willing to put their department's money where their mouths are.

After rattling off numerous statistics and citing various reports showing how investing tax dollars in early childhood development programs can help fight crime, New Mexico State Police Chief Faron Segotta, Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano and Santa Fe Police Chief Aric Wheeler said they would be willing to see their department's operating budgets decrease if it meant funding pre-kindergarten programs. The programs are touted in a study released through the Washington, D.C., based anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.

"If it means reducing our budgets, the numbers pretty much show it's worth it in the long term," Wheeler said.

The officers were citing a report that was largely based on a long-term study of a preschool in Michigan that followed two groups of at-risk, low-income 3- and 4-year-olds beginning in 1962. One group attended the Perry Preschool Program, one did not.

The study found that the children who did not attend the program were "five times more likely to be chronic offenders" than the children in the preschool program and twice as likely to commit a violent offense by the age of 40.

"As a veteran of police work, I know first hand that giving low-income, at-risk children a good early start in life can result in fewer of these children becoming involved in crime later in life — which is a huge benefit to every taxpayer in New Mexico," said Solano.

The sheriff also cited a part of the study that claims every $1 invested in pre-kindergarten programs can save $16 in law enforcement costs.

Jeff Kirsch, the vice president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, asked the law enforcement community to continue to lobby the state's lawmakers to "make a shift from a K-through-12 education model to a pre-K-through-12 approach."

The group is pushing for federal incentives that would help states increase access to high quality pre-kindergarten programs and singled out Sen. Jeff Bingaman as a target of their message.

Segotta said he can see why it's hard for people to want to invest tax dollars in such a way that doesn't appear to have any direct influence on crime prevention.

"People want to see results right now," Segotta said. "I get that. But that's why a study like this is so important. It followed a group for decades and showed exactly how this can save police money down the road. The down-the-road benefits are hard sometimes for people to grasp."

All three officers said they would likely be involved in some capacity in lobbying lawmakers for this particular cause, but Kirschemphasized the organization is a nonpartisan group.

He also declined an opportunity to comment on New Mexico's gubernatorial race.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com.