Grand jury report reveals safety concerns for Santa Cruz County deputy probation officers

The Santa Cruz County civil grand jury has released a new report that shows their findings about the safety issues and concerns of Adult Division Deputy Probation officers (DPOs).

DPOs help rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders, but they also enforce probation terms. They are required to do fieldwork, and that includes visits to offenders’ homes, workplaces, schools and treatment centers.

The report says the DPOs have inadequate or faulty safety equipment, lack of training, limited law enforcement support and a lack of an armed unit when supervising high-risk offenders.

The grand jury says the Probation Department gets state, federal and foundation grants to support rehabilitation programs, but has not adequately responded to the concerns DPOs have expressed.

The report says DPO caseloads have increased and they supervise more violent offenders now. Some have been injured trying to supervise those offenders, and because of the risk, sometimes DPOs do not visit the offender’s work or home.

In the report, the grand jury says it received testimony and documentation showing DPOs are being exposed to dangerous situations without adequate safety equipment and training, and they say that because members of management have never worked as adult DPOs, they do not think management is sensitive to the risks that come with some offenders.

In terms of safety equipment, the grand jury reports that there are issues with inadequate vests, malfunctioning radios, lack of Tasers, ineffective pepper spray, restricted use of identifiable clothing and badges and lack of Narcan. It also found that incident reports were collected and stored but not tracked, and the Probation Department meets minimum state requirements for DPO training but does not provide sufficient safety training.

Recommendations for the department include providing standardized safety gear, providing mandatory initial and ongoing field safety training, working with law enforcement to develop policies and procedures for going with DPOs to field visits and commissioning a needs assessment by an independent consultant.

The grand jury does point out the dedication and passion of the probation officers they met.

The county responded to the report by saying they do not put their probation officers in harm’s way. Santa Cruz County says the grand jury fell short on investigating claims against the probation department. The county says it does a thorough risk assessment of every offender and there has only been one minor incident in the past few years. They add that probation officers are not armed, but they are expected to get Tasers, and they have the option to have an armed deputy escort.

To read the full report: http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Portals/0/County/GrandJury/GJ2019_final/SantaCruzCountyProbation.pdf