By Jennifer Letzer
Ventura County Star
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — Saying recruitment and retainment are at an all-time low in the county’s probation agency, close to 80 members of the Ventura County Professional Peace Officers Association pressed county supervisors Tuesday to examine the agency’s approach to retaining valuable personnel.
“Reducing crime rates and preventing crime before it happens doesn’t happen by accident. It takes good people to do what they’re doing, effective command staff who are trained to do the job right,” Jim Schmitt, the association’s vice president, told the
Ventura County Board of Supervisors at its meeting in Ventura.
The labor association represents deputy probation officers, senior deputy probation officers, corrections services officers, harbor patrol officers, airport operations officers and park rangers. It represents more than 300 county workers and formed in 1985, according to officials.
Union President Don Douglass said that over the years, the Ventura County Probation Agency has lost highly talented and educated professionals to state parole and other law enforcement agencies. He blamed low staffing levels on the probation administration’s outdated retention policies and said officials are “out of touch” with the demands of probation and corrections officers.
“We’ve got one chance to get this right. We can’t afford to lose the trust of Ventura County residents and businesses who depend on us,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt and other speakers at the meeting also told supervisors that their safety has been jeopardized by the state’s prison realignment law.
The law signed in 2011 by Gov. Jerry Brown changed the definition of a felony offense in California. It shifted housing of lower-level offenders from state prisons to local jails and returned prisoners and parolees to jurisdictions where their offenses occurred.
“Our probation officers now manage a higher-risk, more sophisticated, violent level of clientele than we have ever had before,” Schmitt said.
County Executive Officer Mike Powers and county supervisors expressed their appreciation for the work of the probation agency’s employees. Powers said the agency has 20 open positions for corrections services officers and is trying to process more than 100 applicants.
“We hear you, and we need to work through these issues with you. We’re working with you at the table,” Powers said. “Recruitment is an issue, and it’s something we’re really working to accelerate that process.”
Supervisor Kathy Long said she understands the importance of the prison realignment law and the effects it has had on probation workers. She emphasized the importance of public safety in the community and early prevention and intervention practices.