Probation Officers

[Savio]

Since this is DOC, I'm guessing PO's can post here too. Are there any on this board? I'm not a PO but am looking into it after I graduate college for the experience. I'm hoping to get my masters while working and go federal.

[hey co]

You want to be a federal PO?

[de probation]

Savio,
I'm a Delaware probation and parole officer with the domestic violence unit.

In Delaware all P&P officers must have a bachelor's degree, the major doesn't matter. We attend a 12 week course which involves law enforcement and social services training. After the academy we are sworn state law enforcement officers. We carry 40 cal Sig P226Rs on and off duty, wear uniforms, conduct office and home visits as well as Safe Streets and Governor's Task Force. We also work with the US Marshals, DEA and Federal Probation and Parole.

The state has a program to reimburse us for our master's courses. In order to apply for a management position, we must have a master's degree.

Each state runs their probation and parole departments differently. For example in DE, we are dual probation and parole officers. I have parolees and probationers on my caseload as well as interstate transfers. My offenders range from a convicted double murderer to child endangerment.

PA has state and county probation departments and separate state parole officers.

Whether you want a state or federal job depends on your cup of tea as they say. I'm retired military and worked for the feds long enough. A lot of our officers are retired cops and military. Hope this helps.

[jawwardy]

Hello. I am one month away from finishing my 13 week training academy with Maryland Parole and Probation. Like DE, we wear two hats: parole agents and probation agents. We provide community based supervision. However, we are not allowed to carry. We are issued a Bullet Proof Vest and OC spray.

I was wondering what other states provide their officers with... Please share

[mcsap]

There was an ad recently in my county for an adult PO.

The requirements are a 4 yr degree and the starting pay is 32k.

My PD ( and most others around here) do not require a degree and our starting pay is 40K.

Hmmmmmm.

[Lawson]

There was an ad recently in my county for an adult PO.

The requirements are a 4 yr degree and the starting pay is 32k.

My PD ( and most others around here) do not require a degree and our starting pay is 40K.

Hmmmmmm.

Same thing around here, Parole Officers have to have a 4yr and Probation officers usually the same, but Ive never seen a PO make the same or more than their LEO counterparts who dont have a degree requirement.

[de probation]

In Delaware our uniforms are TAC 5.11 blue polo shirts with our emblem on them. Pants are TAC 5.11 tan or blue field duty pants. Raid jackets are blue with Probation & Parole panels. Raincoats are black/orange reversible with reflective Probation & Parole lettering on back. Our winter coat is a black standard issued police heavy duty service coat. We are also issued a suit coat, white shirt and tan dress pants for court.

We are armed with Sig P229Rs-40 cal, and issued cuffs, asp, cap-stun, radio, light and vest.

Vehicles are unmarked Ford Taurus, Crown Vics and Dodge Stratus. Vehicle colors vary.

We and our FOP (Lodge #10) are proud we must have a 4 year degree, arrest more felons and misdemeanor violators as our city, county and state counterparts, testify in court weekly, countless other duties and have the powers of any other state law enforcement officer. Yes, we make way less than state/county/city police officers. Hopefully our FOP will have success in getting our state governor/legislature to recognize our importance to the community and law enforcement agencies and approve our 2 level pay grade increase, which will put us on a little more equal pay terms with other state law enforcement agencies.

[trent0529]

County Parole/Probation Officer here. We too carry Sig 40s along with everything else that a basic police officer carries. I am in the supervision unit, which means most of our work is in the field making contacts, arrests, and looking for absconders with a capias or warrant issued on them. I believe we are paid less because our benefit/insurance package is top-of-the-line (our situation anyway). The difference with our jobs and regular cops is that we do not need warrants to search homes, persons, vehicles, etc. for anyone on probation/parole. If anyone else has any questions for me, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Norm357]

Hello. I am one month away from finishing my 13 week training academy with Maryland Parole and Probation. Like DE, we wear two hats: parole agents and probation agents. We provide community based supervision. However, we are not allowed to carry. We are issued a Bullet Proof Vest and OC spray.

I was wondering what other states provide their officers with... Please share

That is messed up.

[mcsap]

We and our FOP (Lodge #10) are proud we must have a 4 year degree, arrest more felons and misdemeanor violators as our city, county and state counterparts, testify in court weekly, countless other duties and have the powers of any other state law enforcement officer. terms with other state

TO clarify, do you INITIATE more misdemeanor and felony arrests or do you arrest those who were already arrested / convicted of misdemeanor / felony charges for violation of probation/parole ?

Pretty substantial difference.

[Sierra]

TO clarify, do you INITIATE more misdemeanor and felony arrests or do you arrest those who were already arrested / convicted of misdemeanor / felony charges for violation of probation/parole ?

Pretty substantial difference.

+1. I had the same thought.

[DEP&P]

Hello,

I am actually starting the DE P&P academy on Feb 4th. I had a couple questions about the job for anyone with any info. Is there any talk of p&p moving to pay grade 2 and when? Do we purchase our own off duty weapon? Tuition re embursement, does that count for PhD as well, i already have my M.S. Finally, what are the usual hours you guys work?

Thanks for all the info

J

[de probation]

TO clarify, do you INITIATE more misdemeanor and felony arrests or do you arrest those who were already arrested / convicted of misdemeanor / felony charges for violation of probation/parole ?

Pretty substantial difference.

Before I begin, I want to remind you we're talking about Delaware and only Delaware. In Delaware most traffic violations are misdemeanors, i.e. speeding, running red light, running stop sign, failure to use turn signal, etc. All violations of probation are misdemeanors or felonies. In Delaware by law, all corrections officers have full state police powers in their area of operation, ie prison, probation and parole offices, violation of probation centers, etc. On top of that, all probation and parole officers are sworn law enforcement officers with state peace officer powers. Further probation & parole officers are recognized as police officers under the Delaware Police Officers Bill of Rights.

In Delaware probation & parole officers can initiate an arrest on and off duty. I know because I've done it several times (sparingly off duty). This right has been upheld in Court with the backing of the Attorney Generals Office. And we are required by law to take action on all criminal crimes completed in our presence. Failure to do is a criminal violation and we can be held liable in civil court for not taking action. Also, a violation of probation is an initiated arrest in Delaware. We cuff and stuff em for all felony vops and violent misdemeanor vops. And yes, if we can catch them before they get out of jail, we will complete an administrative warrant to keep them in jail, (very high bails for vops), otherwise we go get them. We have our own absconder units.

Delaware has probation and parole officers assigned to Safe Street Units who work with county/local police and the Governor's Task Force which works with State police. We arrest a lot of people who have warrants out for their arrests from state and local police departments. (Amazing how it's always the same people.) I assisted five other probation officers in arresting a murder suspect on a county police warrant last month. We also have officers working with DEA, US Marshall's, Immigrations and US Probation & Parole in Delaware. For example, on a recent administrative search of a probationer's apartment we found 1/2 pound of crack. The two people in the apartment we not on probation but we arrested them and detained them for the Safe Streets unit. We also confiscated the crack and turned it over to the county police. Yes, we will be testifying in court. Yes, our Safe Streets units and Governor's Task Force units initiate a lot of our arrests. Yes, we have fun 'discussing' all the time over who makes the most arrests.

Now, here's the rule. When we initiate an arrest of a person(s) who is not on probation/parole, we will detain them until arrival of the police. This is done because I don't get paid to arrest people not on probation/parole. That is what we have police officers for. Separation of powers is a good thing. Our department made a conscious decision to limit a probation officers arrest powers of those people not on probation or parole. As stated, can we do it, yes, but that is not my job. I don't have time to process them and complete a follow-up investigation. I'm already doing that with my over 120 offenders. I'm not a cop, I'm a probation & parole officer. BUT, we will argue that we make more arrests (not counting traffic offenses) than other police departments, except for maybe the county.

In closing, while a lot of the departments may not get along, probation & parole seems to get along with all of the departments. After all, we don't compete with the police departments, we complement them! (and we make a lot of arrests for them):D

[mcsap]

Certainly different from PA. Our PO's are not the police and have limited jusridiction. They call us if they find drugs on one of their " children".

If most traffic vios are Misdemeanors ( klind of boggles my mind) do you print and photo everyone who doent use their turn signal ?? We process ALL Misd and Felony arrests and even a Summary Retail Theft gets printed.

I mean here MOST traffic offenses are summary traffic tickets. DUI, HIt and Run with injuries , Homicide by Vehicle are the only Misd/Felony traffic arrests. ( mainly)

[de probation]

If we find drugs on one of our offenders and its for personal use (small amount), we confiscate it, enter it as evidence, do our arrest report and use the evidence in a vop. After the conviction the evidence is destroyed. We use the same evidence procedures as the state police. If we find a substantial amount of drugs, ie trafficking, then we call the police and turn everything over to them.

Those misdemeanors classified as 'traffic offenses' are not processed as a criminal misdemeanor, ie finger printed and photographed. (As in PA, there are some traffic offense that are criminal). Besides, we already have access to their DMV photo through the DELJIS website, which also contains their mug shots if they've ever been arrested for a criminal offense.

We don't have summary offenses in Delaware. When you run a person in our state through NCIC for a criminal history, you only receive the criminal offenses, not traffic. There is a law on the books to make all traffic offenses summary offenses and no longer list them as misdemeanors. That was initiated two or three years ago. I believe it's still in committee.

There is line between police officers and probation & parole officers. We know the line and only step over it when we have to, ie witness a crime in progress. A big benefit with us being sworn state law enforcement officers is with the stroke of the Governor's pen, all of our probation and parole officers can be use to supplement the police in case of a natural or man made disaster. We would team up with the police to be used for disaster security details.

As crime increases in Delaware, probation and parole is becoming more law enforcement oriented, especially as the old timers retire and more progressive managers take their place. This is driven home by the fact the public wants probation & parole to not only monitor the bad guys, but take them off the street if necessary. Again, it is amazing that most of the people committing the crimes are also the same people on probation or parole.

The one main issue that we have in Delaware as probation & parole officers is; are we law enforcement officers or social workers, and how do we balance the two to meet the needs of the Community and the offender?