Probation Dept. and Budget Cuts
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This letter is written as a warning to the citizens of Orange County. If the proposed budget cuts for the Orange County Probation Department occur, and the restructuring of the department as outlined by the county’s chief administrative officer is put into effect, Orange County will be unsafe.
The administrative officer advocates reducing probation staff and increasing the supervision caseloads to 300-400 probationers for each deputy. With the present caseloads of 120 it is barely possible to provide supervision and narcotic testing, and to collect restitution for victims each month; with the proposed changes it will be impossible.
Our clients are not runaways and truants, but are convicted rapists, robbers, burglars, sex offenders, and murderers. There are over 17,000 of these people on probation in Orange County, and, with the proposed budget cuts, they will be roaming free and essentially unsupervised in our community. Our lovely county will become just like Los Angeles. Citizens, please contact the Board of Supervisors and demand that we be protected.
DORLENE ROOT
Huntington Beach
Root is an Orange County deputy probation officer.
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