County attorney Thomas Laehn and sheriff Jack Williams hope to take the proverbial bite out of crime by putting more teeth into the informal probation assigned to an increasing number of offenders.
After hearing a presentation Monday by Diane Hinderaker, director of the non-profit Boone County Probation, the supervisors are primed to approve a one-year pilot project involving 20 offenders, starting July 1. After a year, the program will be evaluated for use with all offenders on informal probation.
The pilot program will cost Greene County $8,515 to cover start-up costs.
There are two types of probation, Laehn explained. Formal probation is under the Department of Corrections and is “a pretty significant burden on the person on probation… It’s pretty onerous.”
Informal probation requires an offender to register at the sheriff’s office, “and then there’s nothing. No supervision, no oversight,” unless the person gets arrested. At that time, a harsher sentence would be imposed, but only if the county attorney remembered the offender was on informal probation.
Using case management software, the name of an offender is flagged if he is arrested again. “That doesn’t remedy the whole problem. Part of the problem is that for a whole year you have a person who, unless he gets arrested, can pretty much do anything he wants and there’s no supervision,” Laehn said.
Boone County Probation hires off-duty police officers as probation officers to supervise people on informal probation. The probation officers work to deter future crimes in part by representing possible punishment, but also by making sure offenders are utilizing community resources like substance abuse counseling and mental health services.
There are about 150 persons on informal probation in Greene County. The sheriff’s office has no capacity to supervise them.
Hinderaker said that in Boone County there are about 170 persons on informal probation supervised by Boone County Probation. Their offenses range from domestic abuse to operating while intoxicated to drug offenses. Persons who re-offend or commit violent crimes, and sex offenders are generally put on formal probation under the Iowa Department of Corrections. Hinderaker claimed a 4-5 percent recidivism rate among Boone County Probation clients.
Clients pay Boone County Probation $400 to enroll and then meet monthly with their probation officer. That doesn’t cover the full cost of the program. Other funding in Boone County comes from the county supervisors, the cities of Madrid and Ogden, and private grants.
During the 20-client pilot project, an officer from Boone would come to Jefferson twice a month to meet with clients. If the program is implemented after the pilot, Boone County Probation would hire a local officer.
According to Hinderaker, the morale in law enforcement improves when officers know that offenders will be held accountable for their behavior after the fact.
She added that the program increases “fidelity for the county and law enforcement. It spreads like wildfire. People know that, ‘Hey, I can’t get an OWI in Greene County anymore because I’ve got to go do some hard work after that.’ Those are pieces we really find valuable for our people in Boone County.”
Board chair John Muir called the pilot project “an investment in our system and our people” and “a very good step in the right direction.”
“The biggest help will be the monitoring for continuing use of narcotics,” sheriff Jack Williams said. “Narcotics fuel everything. They fuel the thefts, the burglaries, and most of the assaults. It’s either alcohol or drug-related. Maybe it will help reduce our mental health issues, because drugs also coincide with that.”
