The Stanislaus County Probation Department is the 17th largest probation department in California. It is a forward-thinking, progressive department that has achieved benchmark status in several areas. It has approximately 250 employees and budget or approximately 24 million dollars. The department consists of three major divisions: Field Services, Institutional Services, Alternative to Custody Programs and Administrative Services. There are approximately 7,000 adults and 850 juveniles on probation. The bed-rated capacity of juvenile hall is currently 158. Alternative to Custody Programs include Home Supervision and Electronic Monitoring, Departmental programs include adult and juvenile drug courts; a juvenile drug abuse treatment center; armed adult and juvenile supervision officers; specialized domestic violence, sex offender and violent offender caseloads, and armed officer assigned to the county’s drug enforcement task force.
The department has a strategic plan with measurable outcomes for each program. There are many multi-agency collaboratives with law enforcement, mental health, alcohol and drug services and non-profit, community based agencies. Officers and staff are active in national, state-wide and regional organizations and attend regional organizations and attend regional, state and national conferences and training's to stay abreast of professional developments.
There is a Human Resources unit within administrative services which is responsible for the staff recruitment and selection processes, background investigations, training, risk management, personnel and payroll. There is also an Administrative Services Unit responsible for collection of fines and fees, department automation and fiscal management including budget, grants, contracts, supplies and services.
The Department is currently in the process of converting its automated case management system to a web based system integrated with other criminal justice agencies in the County: the Sheriff, District Attorney, Public Defender, and the Courts.
The Department continues to emphasize technology as a means to provide better service while keeping the number of staff to the minimum necessary. Current projects include imaging of records (electronic document management –EDM) to improve access to records and information to increase efficiency, incorporating geographical information system tools and applications (GIS) to facilitate client management, and to improve service to the community,.
The Probation Department continues to focus on significant effort on youth oriented programs implemented through grants and community partnerships. The young person represents out best opportunity for success in terms of modifying behavior in a positive manner. The Department’s primary goal is to preempt the involvement of the youth in the criminal justice system.
In summary, we continue to receive more serious cases but staff resources have improves and have been able to closely supervise a larger portion of out probation population. We are working hard to improve productivity through technology and expanding the number of partnerships and joint ventures we have with a variety of public and private agencies.
