News-Record.com

Following on the N+O's probation work, my N+R colleague Ryan Seals writes:

GREENSBORO - Overwhelmingly big case loads and low pay are overburdening Guilford County's probation system, leaving many offenders without direction or supervision and putting the public at risk.

Of the county's 6,185 probationers, 1,219 of them could not be found as of Wednesday, probation officials said.

Just do the math: Each of the 90 probation officers assigned to Guilford County must keep tabs on nearly 70 probationers.

Good probation officers are leaving, tired of juggling heavy case loads and long hours for little pay. Offenders keep committing crimes in a system meant to help them become productive citizens.

And it costs taxpayers when criminals return to an expensive and crowded prison system. And when innocent people are put in danger.

Also from the story:

"The ultimate question will be with the worsening economy and the deficit we find ourselves in: How are we going to find the resources to tackle the (probation) problem?" said newly elected state Sen. Don Vaughan. "We need to find a way to stretch our resources to make probation effective."

Vaughan, a local attorney with 25 years of experience, plans to make the probation system one of his priorities in the General Assembly. The state also needs to look at how probation cases are handled in the courts, he said.

"On Monday morning, you can wait an hour to an hour and a half just to get inside the courtroom door because of the volume of (probation) cases in Guilford County," Vaughan said.

"It's overwhelming right now, and I think the Eve Carson case in Chapel Hill was the awakening of the state legislature that the system needs attention."

Click here for the whole thing.