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| MI parole officers: public safety threats from ex-cons |
| By mlive.com - Tim Martin |
| Published: 05/14/2012 |
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LANSING, MI - The union representing Michigan’s parole and probation officers says it’s worried a plan to leave 100 positions within its ranks unfilled will hurt public safety, allowing more ex-inmates to roam without adequate supervision. The state government budget plan for next fiscal year, that likely will be approved this month by the state Legislature, would save $10 million by not filling some vacant positions in the probation and parole department. The plan calls for leaving 100 officer and 15 support staff positions unfilled in the budget year starting Oct. 1. Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration says the state has about 70,000 parolees and probationers, down about 9 percent from two years ago. The administration says the state’s 1,300 parole and probation officers can handle that caseload without filling the vacant positions. But officials with United Auto Workers Local 6000, representing the parole and probation officers, disagree. “It would have a negative impact on public safety,” said Rick Michael, an officer speaking as a union representative for parole and probation officers in Macomb County. “Far too many dangerous people are being released from prison.” Ex-cons and parole absconders have been linked to high profile violent crimes in Michigan within the past six months, including two charged in the November 2011 death of an 80-year-old Royal Oak woman. Two parole officers assigned to the absconders were suspended. There's debate about whether parole officers in some cases are doing an inadequate job, or whether they're hamstrung by a system that has them monitoring too many parolees and limits their ability to send parole violators back to jail. Some officers say they’re being made to feel like scapegoats for shortcomings in state policy. The Department of Corrections is auditing caseloads of officers to make sure they’re keeping up with drug tests, check-ins and other requirements for parolees and probationers. But the department appears confident the probation and parole caseload can be handled with its current staff. Read More. |
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Budgetary cutbacks are resulting in far reaching problems in community corrections. In my jurisdiction, only the highest risk offenders are being actively supervise and the "additional duties" being assigned to PO's continues multiply. An audit will speak to what did not get done but it will not address WHY things did not get done. This has been a "go to" move by management to identify a scapegoat without having to speak to the increased work loads, increased risk, increased paperwork and decreases in available resources to assist parolees and probationers in the community.