As such, it is a wise decision for people who must proceed through these systems to obtain the assistance of an experienced attorney. Understanding and navigating these court systems can be challenging. However, there are also many differences between the way that courts operate in different areas of Ohio. And if we’re dedicating 20 to 25 percent of a person’s schedule just sitting in a courtroom not doing anything probation related, we’re not supervising people.Many people are aware of the differences between the state and federal court systems. “The community expects us to supervise them. “We do not do that for the general division judges and I told them that we can’t do it for their court, because we have so many cases and we have to be supervising them in the community,” Gilkison said. He said they don’t have officers in the seven common pleas courts all the time either. He said the only issue they discussed with him was that they wanted parole officers on duty in each of their courts. Gilkison said the Area Courts never officially told him why they created their own department. “We just didn’t fill positions because we didn’t think it would be fair to the county and the taxpayers.” “We had two people assigned doing the job and we thought it was fair not to fill positions this year, when we knew that they were going to be starting their own department,” Gilkison said. The Common Pleas Court Administrator Wayne Gilkison told the Journal-News they had two people assigned to the area courts and those positions have been cut from the 2019 budget. “I called probation - specific example - saying can you send someone over to test her. “I couldn’t get a probation officer to our court, when I thought somebody was using and would be testing dirty, and she was pregnant and her mother standing behind her saying don’t let her walk out of this building,” McDonough said. MORE: Discussion, debate over possible Hamilton layoffs continues Lovelace said of the 763 people now on probation under their department’s supervision, 228 were absconders.Īrea II Court Judge Kevin McDonough said “the straw that broke the camel’s back” happened in his court when the county probation department asked him to send an offender to their offices for a drug test, rather than them sending an officer to the Historic Courthouse. “We hope to cut down on that rate because we hope to not lose those offenders… It’s going to save on jail space, we’re not going to have people getting arrested because we’re going to reduce that amount, it’ll cut down on that cost.” “With all those absconders out there it’s greatly affecting the community…,” Bullard said. If they don’t sign the rules, they can’t be charged with probation violations.
Having probation officers in court means offenders are read and sign the rules of supervision, and the court can get their information and set up schedules. “The need also was based upon the absconder rate that was increasing astronomically, lots of warrants being issued for absconders because the officers weren’t in the respective courts,” she said. The court’s new Chief Probation Officer Jeannette Bullard, who was a common pleas probation staffer, said it was critical to get probation officers at each location. They have locations in Hamilton, Oxford and West Chester Twp. The Area Courts handle misdemeanor criminal, traffic violations and some civil cases for the unincorporated areas of the county.
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