By Ernest Rollins
Herald-Times
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Monroe County Community Corrections program is expanding its services to help area military veterans after receiving funding for a district veterans court.
At last week’s work session, the Monroe County Council appropriated $64,440 to pay the salary plus fringe benefits for a new probation officer to be assigned to the court.
The funds come from a one-year grant the probation department was awarded by the Indiana Judicial Center.
“Veterans court will be part of our local continuum of services,” Chief Probation Officer Linda Brady said. “It is not uncommon for veterans to have issues such as traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. There are services available specifically for veterans that our new veterans court will be able to help them access.”
Monroe County has a state-certified Problem Solving Court program that is divided into several areas offering services to offenders with certain needs and of certain types. For example, the drug treatment court assists nonviolent felons who have significant alcohol or drug abuse addictions.
The veterans court will focus on helping veterans in the felony system. However, it will not only help Monroe County veterans but will accept referrals from other counties in the judicial district such as Owen, Lawrence and Greene counties, Brady said.
She said the probation department has been collecting information on those they see who have veteran status only since 2014, when the department switched to a new case management system.
From then to the present, 192 veterans were identified to have had community supervision. Four of those were female, and 188 were male.
Also, of those cases, 79 were charged with felonies and 113 with misdemeanors.
Brady said she doesn’t know how many veterans live in the other counties or how many may be referred to Monroe County for supervision and access to services.
Brady said juvenile probation officer Richard Greco, who served in the U.S. Army as an airborne ranger, was hired to serve as the new veterans court probation officer.
Monroe County Veterans Service Officer Mary Elftman said the need for such a court cannot be overstated.
She said it takes a community effort to work in resolving problems such as homelessness and mood issues veterans face.
“Veterans who do not clearly identify their status at the time of arrest or incarceration slip through a large crack in our current system, and the Veteran Court can go a long way toward filling this void,” Elftman said.
American Post Legion Commander Richard Dunbar said his organization always has backed the idea of a veterans court here in Monroe. He added that there are already several veterans courts throughout Indiana that help servicemen and women who can benefit from such a program. He said for some veterans, leaving military life and readjusting to civilian life can be difficult and cause some turn to things such as alcohol and substance abuse. He said the counties drug court here has had success helping a number of people and the hope is the veterans court can do the same.
“It is a great program to get started,” Dunbar said.
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