Escalating violent crime is hindering the work of probation officers who must visit certain communities as part of their duties, outgoing Chief Probation Officer Denise Agard told Barbados TODAY exclusively.
Some probation officers are now unwilling to enter specific areas, even with guidance from the police out of concern for their safety.
Agard said: “We have to think about officer safety in this climate that we are in now… certain areas… because we have to get the community input for our pre-sentence reports, and there are certain areas now that are very dangerous to be in. That is also something we are looking at now… officer safety.”
She revealed that before venturing into certain districts, her department usually contacts the police to assess the safety of the area. But, despite assurances, staff still express apprehension.
“One of the things that we would do at this particular time is we contact the police station in the area or that is responsible for that community in order to find out how things are, how the temperature is, and they would give us an idea,” Agard explained. “But sometimes that’s not enough, and officers would rather not go in the area, or schedule it for another time.”
Concerns over the frequency of drive-by shootings in some communities further complicate their efforts.
“When you go into the communities, people are looking at you with suspicion,” she said, pointing to the tense atmosphere that officers often face.
Although requesting police escorts could offer a solution, Agard acknowledged that such support might be challenging to secure given the manpower constraints within The Barbados Police Service.
“They have manpower shortages as well. So, it will be a bit difficult to take them away from their normal duties to accompany us. But we have to look into that and find a solution how we are going to deal with it going forward,” she said.
Agard called for proactive measures to protect probation officers as well as other workers, warning: “We don’t want to wait until something happens and officers are injured. It might not [only] be from probation; it might be from another agency that has to go into the community. We want to be proactive to these things before they happen.”
The probation chief also highlighted other pressing issues within her department, including staffing shortages that have led to delays in producing pre-sentencing reports for the courts. She noted that her staff often struggle to gather information needed for these reports due to inaccurate contact details and uncooperative individuals.
“One of the things that we find, is that it is difficult to get information sometimes. Sometimes the information that you get in the request for the pre-sentencing report is outdated, telephone numbers are not correct, so we have to go and do research and get that information before the report is ready,” Agard said.
She also pointed out that missed appointments by interviewees further disrupt the department’s schedule.
“That would kind of push back everything,” she contended, adding that the courts might then have to set a new date for the completion of the report. “We just need some cooperation from the general public in relation to getting the information for the pre-sentencing reports.”
The Probation Department currently operates with nine probation officers, three senior probation officers, and three community service officers. However, with an impending increase in responsibilities, Agard is calling for additional personnel and funding to manage the workload more effectively.
“We don’t only do pre-sentencing reports; we do adoptions, we do meals inquiry reports, we do [parental] access and a lot of interventions. Substance abuse problems, anger management; all of those things we have to address with one client, and it takes up a lot of time,” she lamented.
The outgoing probation chief suggested the immediate recruitment of at least five more probation officers to alleviate the backlog.
“We would like some more probation officers… qualified academically, as well as persons who are not encumbered with anything that we would have before the courts… and we don’t want people who are involved in using drugs, gang people, and things like that,” she noted.
With plans to expand the agency to include parole services, Agard believes that new recruits would help streamline operations by dividing the workload.
The department is also encouraging more men to join the service to help mentor young male offenders, many of whom do not have father figures in the home.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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