PROBATION, PAROLE OFFICERS STEPPING UP ENFORCEMENT

For years, checking in with a probation officer meant making a trip
to his or her office in the morning, giving a urine sample and
answering some questions.

Not anymore.

Now, Lackawanna County probation and parole officers are dropping in
on clients at homes, stopping at bars and holding evening hours to
make sure they are getting a full picture of their clients' behavior.

"When offenders come to the office, they're on their best behavior.
You're seeing them in an artificial environment," said John Conlon,
director of the county's probation and parole office. "It's important
for our officers to get to know the client in his or her
neighborhood, their families."

Probation and parole officers have always made the occasional home
visit. Staffing increases -- eight new officers have been hired this
year -- have made those visits more commonplace, Mr. Conlon said.

Now, 20 supervision officers handle about 1,500 people on probation
and parole, from the county's Treatment Court and Accelerated
Rehabilitative Disposition program to those sentenced to probation or
released on parole.

"It's necessary to supervise from outside the office," said Gerald P.
Davis, director of field supervision for probation and parole. "But
until this year, the sheer number of (clients) kept everyone chained
to a desk."

Judge Michael Barrasse, who along with President Judge Chester Harhut
has led the push for probation and parole officers to get out into
the community, said studies show that getting out of the office is
more productive for the officers and the clients.

"We're telling these people, no alcohol, no drugs, no frequenting
establishments with liquor licenses," Judge Barrasse said. "It's
useless to enter an order, though, if no one is going to make sure
they are following it."

Mr. Conlon estimates that probation and parole officers have at least
one person a week violating the terms of their parole or probation
since they began doing more home visits a few months ago.

Catching violators is only part of the process, though. Home visits
also allow probation and parole officers to get to know family,
friends and neighbors.

Meeting the officers may mean families and neighbors would be more
likely to report someone breaking the rules, Mr. Conlon said.

Working in teams of two, probation and parole officers will make
about 20 home visits a shift, mostly stopping by in the evening and
at night during the week and on weekends. While there, they usually
administer drug and alcohol tests and may search the home for
contraband like alcohol, drugs and drug paraphernalia.

In addition to home visits, probation and parole officers are also
working more early morning and evening hours to call clients in for
drug and alcohol tests and participating in DUI checkpoints with the
county district attorney's office.

Also, a few times a month, probation and parole officers will do bar
sweeps -- visiting just about every bar in a town or neighborhood to
see if people on probation or parole are there. They're usually
joined by local police when possible, Mr. Conlon said.

If they do find someone on probation or parole in the bar, probation
officers will administer a breath test on the spot. Mr. Davis said
the punishment for finding someone violating probation or parole
varies -- from a verbal warning to being taken to prison.

"It's a shot in the dark," Mr. Conlon admitted. "We may not catch a
lot of people at the bar we're at that given night. But it's about
having a presence. Tavern owners and patrons know we're there, and
that we'll be back."