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Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
RM probation officer urges protest of budget cuts
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Photo courtesy to River Valley Times
Rancho Murieta resident Adam Dubey (right), who is a supervising probation officer for Sacramento County, meets with chief probation Officer Don Meyer to discuss their concerns about proposed budget cuts to the department.
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By Sheri Barile
River Valley Times Reporter
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Rancho Murieta resident and Sacramento County supervising probation officer Adam Dubey is urging the River Valley community to speak out against proposed budget cuts to the probation department in the amount of $28.5 million.
Dubey said the cuts to the 2010-11 budget, scheduled for a vote by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors after public hearings on June 14, would result in closing the Sacramento County Boys Ranch, located six miles from Rancho Murieta off Scott Road. It is a 125-bed secure facility that opened in 1960 and is the only remaining commitment facility for the county’s youthful offenders.
Dubey, who has served with the probation department for nearly 16 years and is currently assigned to the Juvenile Intake Unit, also said that if these cuts go through as proposed, it would represent a 45% reduction in the department since July of 2008.
“These cuts will essentially cripple the department,” he said. “They will eliminate 206 positions, on the heels of 156 positions that were cut in 2009-10.”
There are currently seven adult offenders and one juvenile offender on probation in RM and Sloughhouse for felony violations including theft, fraud and possession of controlled substances. There are also three outstanding warrants for parole violation.
In addition, Wilton has 24 active probation cases, 18 offenders are adults and six are youth. Of these 24, two are validated gang members and one is a registered sex offender.
While Dubey acknowledged that the River Valley has a lower crime rate than most other areas of the county, he said there is still real cause for concern. “It really makes you appreciate and value the security and isolation of RM,” he said. “But my concern is that we work and shop outside our gates, and our kids attend middle and high school outside the gates.”
Dubey added that the community’s middle and high school-aged kids are socializing with kids from Elk Grove, where there are 1,224 active probation cases - 62 validated as gang members and 14 registered as sex offenders. He emphasized that the budget cuts will hobble the department’s ability to monitor these cases, which could ultimately lead to recidivism.
“Our kids attend after- activities like nighttime football games in these areas, and with such drastic cuts in supervision of probation cases, the likelihood that they will be victimized is going to significantly increase,” Dubey said. “In addition, the probation department determines restitution for victims, so the victims of crimes will be impacted by these cuts as well.”
Chief probation Officer Don Meyer corroborated this. “It’s clearly not just us (the probation department) that is being impacted," Meyer said. "The sheriff’s department will take a hit too. That makes it all that much harder for them to respond to issues in all the communities of Sacramento County.”
Dubey sees several avenues of impact for the rural communities of the River Valley including the monitoring of crime inside the gates of RM. “Most of the RM crimes I’ve seen reported in the River Valley Times are property crimes like vandalism, theft or vehicle burglaries,” he said. “Based on the budget cuts, these offenders will not be assigned a probation officer, even if they are placed on probation by the Juvenile Delinquency Court. The probation department will not have the resources to follow up with compliance relative to court-ordered conditions or to respond to problems reported by the public or parents.”
Both Dubey and Meyer emphasized that this leads to recidivism. Dubey cited one recent case that occurred in Folsom. “I just reviewed an intake report on three juveniles arrested there and subsequently booked into Juvenile Hall,” he said. "One stole money from an unattended cash register while the other two acted as lookouts. They also broke into two vehicles and were found in possession of stolen property including an ATM/debit card. One was identified as attempting to steal a motor scooter from a nearby parking garage.”
Dubey continued. “All three juveniles were on probation when they were arrested. The juvenile who took the money from the cash register and attempted to steal the scooter had previously been committed to the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center facility, which was closed in July of 2009 as a result of the 2009-10 budget cuts.”
Dubey is urging community members who share his concerns about the impact to public safety due to the proposed budget cuts to contact Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Representative Don Nottoli at (916) 874-4565 or at nottolid@saccounty.net.
He is also urging concerned citizens to attend the budget hearings, which begin at 9:30 a.m. on June 14 in the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chambers at 700 H Street, Sacramento.
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