NV- Budget cuts may be endangering our community- particularly children

11-16-2008 Nevada:

In light of budget cuts and hiring freezes, can parole officers keep our community safe? Certain members of our community may be in particular danger.

Parole and Probation Division of Northern Nevada says that with more than 13,000 Nevadans on parole or probation and fewer than 200 officers statewide on staff to supervise, each one carries a caseload of about 65 offenders.

According to the PPD, for each case, officers are responsible for: conducting drug tests, confirming employment, setting up interviews, conducting home visits and making sure offenders are compliant with all conditions attached to their freedom.

"There is no magic bullet," Department Chief Mark Woods said, Northern Nevada's Parole and Probation Division. "We are feeling the effects-we're not hiring and we will have to start adjusting how we supervise people, putting more resources toward the high-risk offenders."

Since they can't hire any more officers and they're seeing some leave for other agencies, they have to constantly do more with less.

For now, they say they are shifting resources over to supervising the most dangerous offenders while still keeping track of less violent ones.

Dwindling staff is not the only challenge Northern Nevada's parole officers are facing.

Right outside the door of their current office, school buses line up filled with students attending productions at the Pioneer Theater. One block south is the library and the children's museum, one block north is the river walk and beyond that, the ice-skating rink.

Dozens of sex offenders are required to report to the parole and probation building within sight of these places where children congregate.

"Our own internal guidelines say we should be at least 1,000 feet away from places where children meet," Sgt. Tiran said. "And when we first moved here in 2000, the Pioneer Center was here-but most of the other places weren't."

Sgt Tiran says they need to move but that creates another problem.

The lease on their current residence is up in July 2010 and with the state in financial meltdown, there is no money to buy or build a new place. Officers say they worry that their own lives and the well-being of children in the area are at stake. ..News Source.. by News 4