By Becky Metrick
Public Opinion
CHAMBERSBURG — Having a case load of 160 offenders might sound enormous, but for Franklin County Adult Probation officers, it is their average.
The more than 3,000 offenders in Franklin County are split between the three units of probation officers, according to Chief Probation Officer Daniel Hoover.
Joined by a Public Opinion reporter and a photographer on a recent Wednesday night, two officers rode around Chambersburg, knocking on a few doors, talking with a few people. It’s relaxed; everyone knows their purpose and the nervousness you might expect is not present during these interactions.
Officer Doug Wilburn, and his field partner, Officer Brooke Alleman, have lists of about seven or eight pages that they flip through looking up addresses and names. They check which offenders live in the area they are driving through so they can perform random checks.
When they get to a residence, whichever officer is the lead will knock on the door while the other officer makes sure the situation is secure.
However, usually, by the time an offender gets this far through the system, they understand what they are supposed to do, Alleman said. They won’t do anything that can hurt them.
“We are a reactive department, we read their actions,” Alleman said. “If they do what they’re supposed to do, they won’t see the inside of a jail.”
Each visit is only a few minutes long, but officers and parolees chat about jobs and living situations. While inspecting the home, officers ask about families, significant others and if there’s someone else living in the residence. If so, the officers will ask the other residents about how the offender is doing.
Adult Probation visits differ from the other two main types, which include DUI probation officers and SSU, which deals with sexual offenders, transfers, and offenders with mental health needs.
Chief Hoover said about a third of their offenders are DUI offenders, while 90 percent of other offenders are drug and alcohol related. This might mean an offender was charged with robbery, but was doing it for money to assist a drug habit.
DUI officers will have a case load of around 180 offenders, Alleman said, while SSU officers have the smallest caseload of around 35.
Hoover said that his people do a “heck of a good job.” Wednesday night’s cooperation from the various parolees visited seemed to echo that. Even the newer offenders seem to understand the process, and do not lose their cool when the officers question them.
The only hiccup in the night came when Wilburn arrived at a residence and only received shouts from inside in response to his knocking. The man behind the door shouted that no one in that residence was on probation, and that the man Wilburn was looking for had moved out months ago.
Wilburn determined that he’d have to send a notice to the house, and if there wasn’t a response, a warrant would be filed for the missing offender. Wilburn and Alleman agreed that a response like the yelling through the door was very rare. The visits over the next few hours went smoothly.
These officers have their desk days just like everyone else, often working on finding missing parolees. But their main job is to work with offenders and ensure they’re on the best path possible to get back on their feet.
“The level of compliance is pretty high,” Alleman said.
“You build a rapport with them,” Wilburn added. Regardless of what the offender did to end up on probation, Alleman said, to the officers, this is the parolees new start, and the officers are going to do what they can to help the parolees succeed.