Elected officials join PEF at community forum in Harlem
PEF hosts ‘Town Hall’ meeting on parole, public safety
By VITO TURSO
More than 150 off-duty parole officers attended a PEF-sponsored “town hall” meeting at the Harlem State Office Building in late April to tell state legislators about the challenges they face in monitoring the behavior of an estimated 56,000 parolees throughout New York.
Ten Parole Officers and PEF leaders testified that there is a “crisis situation in parole” that demands immediate attention. The officers added that if action is not taken to strengthen the parole system, the public’s safety could be placed at risk.
PEF Vice President Patricia Baker organized the forum and coordinated the testimony before the legislative panel which included Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubry, chair of the Assembly Corrections Committee, and Assembly Members Keith L. Wright, Diane Gordon, and William Scarborough.
Overwhelming
caseloads“Our dedicated parole officers are out on the streets every day and night doing a very professional and essential job in protecting both our public safety and our communities,” Baker said.
“The caseloads for many of these fine parole officers have skyrocketed in recent years to a point where some are now being asked to handle as many as 100 parolees, well above the normal caseload of about 35. Parole officers simply cannot handle that overwhelming number of parolees in the proper way. Consequently, many are becoming frustrated and are leaving these important jobs. If we lose any more officers, we will have a real crisis on our hands in our parole system — a system that must be preserved,” Baker added.
Also speaking out on the need to support the state’s parole system and parole officers were PEF Division 236 Council Leader Willis Toms, whose division represents 1,400 state parole officers; parole officers Gary Stern, Ross Aronson, Michael Murphy, Manuelita Clemente and parole revocation specialist Chandra Perry-Patterson.
PEF Secretary-Treasurer Jane Hallum also participated, as did PEF Region 10 Coordinator Jennifer Faucher and Region 11 Coordinator Alan Schulkin, who also helped plan the forum.
The PEF leaders and members asked lawmakers to pass legislation adding funds to the state budget to authorize the hiring of more parole officers to reduce the unmanageable caseloads.
Toms told the panel that his dedicated parole officers have often been referred to as “social workers with guns.” Actually, he said, parole officers “are New York state’s best-kept secret.”
Tough peace officers
“Our officers are true peace officers because they go into communities and prevent crime by monitoring the behavior, offering counseling and referring released felons to support services that will allow them to return to society in a productive and constructive manner,” Toms said. “And when we have to get tough, we get tough,” he added.
Toms also
said that parole officers need the proper tools to do
their jobs such as working radios and cars, and they need
the immediate hiring of additional officers to fill the
existing vacancies which are leading to the enormous
caseload increases. Aubry told the group he valued the work done by parole officers each and every day, adding that he was personally aware of officers’ activities in his home borough of Queens. He said the sensitivity coupled with the professionalism of parole officers in the 115th Precinct had served as a valuable tool to averting and reducing crime which has made the community a safer place in which to live.
The state legislators said they soon would hold a public hearing to address the serious concerns raised by the parole officers.