A pilot project that will provide more supervision to persons placed on probation in Greene County courts began July 1.
Boone County Probation (BCP) has expanded into Greene County to provide probation services for identified charges.
The pilot project will consist of a set number of cases that will be followed until their discharge or eventual disposition. BCP will provide services consisting of monthly meetings with a probation officer, payment of an enrollment fee, follow up on court ordered requirements (for example, substance abuse evaluations, mental health evaluations, domestic abuse programs, drinking driver course) and overall case management of probationers until their probation requirements are completed.
BCP has two probation officers seeing clients; both are law enforcement officers and one is from Greene County. Probation appointments will be held at the Law Enforcement Center at 204 S Chestnut Street in Jefferson, IA. Probationers should call our main office to schedule an appointment. The main office will be in Boone.
BCP worked with county attorney Thomas Laehn to develop a system for Greene County that includes BCP supervision for charges that are not eligible for Department of Corrections supervision. This is an attempt to implement a system that organizes accountability and supervision for those who are adjudicated to have violated the law.
The extension of probation services to probationers otherwise ineligible for supervision should reduce recidivism rates, support offender rehabilitation, and promote public safety, Laehn has told the county supervisors. This offers an opportunity for probationers to be successful at this level of probation, without having to involve the DOC at a higher level of supervision. This is not informal probation; it is just probation.
BCP has been in existence since 1985 providing probation services along with a host of community services for Boone County. BCP currently supervises 180-200 adult clients for probation. It offers fulltime supervision with monthly probation appointments, drug testing, fee collection, electronic filing with Boone County courts and case management. It also manage the Youth Community Services Program for Boone County Juvenile Court.
BCP is an independent organization working under contract to Boone and now Greene counties.
