Law enforcement leaders and child advocates say the government needs to invest in infants to fight the war on crime.
Tuesday at Loving Hands Pre-school in Green, Ohio, Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander and his K-9 team interacted with the youngsters to promote the Early Learning Challenge Fund.
It's a government program that provides high quality education to at-risk pre-schoolers. The children range in age from birth to five years old.
The price tag for the early learning initiative: $1 billion a year.
"It's much more expensive to put a person in prison. I can send my daughter to Ohio State University cheaper than what we pay to keep a prisoner," said Sheriff Alexander.
Studies show 80 percent of prisoners don't have a high school education.
The cost to house Ohio's 76,000 adult inmates is $1.7 billion every year.
