Faulty System

Though news leaked out Monday regarding a city investigation into time fraud at the Recreation, Parks and Facilities Department, insiders are reporting that time fraud is just the tip of a very large and very dirty iceberg. The Insider has assembled several first-hand accounts from probationers serving out their community service at the Recreation Department. Not only does the Rec Department get free labor from Sentinel Offender Services, the company in charge of the city’s probation services, the system allows city employees unreasonable power over the offenders under their control. While every offender is different, most have a fine to pay off and with that a fee to be in the system. Certain DUI offenders in particular have to pay for their blood alcohol bracelets to be read, which means that someone who has their driving privileges revoked is responsible for earning an income to first pay off their fine, then pay off their monthly fees, then pay whatever living expenses they might have, all while trying to serve their community service hours. It’s these community service hours that might actually blow the lid off of Sentinel. If the investigation into the Rec Department goes as deep as the Insider’s been told, the Sheriff’s Office will soon be releasing information about widespread bribery, extortion and other abuses of power. Basically, when an offender is on probation, he has to report to an assigned area in order to log community service hours. Those hours are then reported to the offender’s probation officer at Sentinel, who can then check them against the log kept by the Rec Department employee in charge of the offender’s community service. It’s here where things get ugly. The Rec Department employee has the opportunity to falsify the numbers — for a fee or for a price not measured in cash. The employee can have the numbers show that the offender put in time he or she hasn’t, or he can derail an offender’s probation by reporting back to Sentinel that the offender refused to do the job assigned, did it poorly, was belligerent or rude or late. In other words, an offender’s probation is being supervised by a low paid city worker who has very little supervision himself. A bad report can derail an offender’s probation by starting him back at zero (say the paperwork is conveniently lost) or it can send him back before the judge that originally sentenced him, who will very likely see the incident as an ineffective probation, which could result in jail time. Off the record, law enforcement officials admit the Sentinel model offers an offender no real help in changing behavior and that in many ways it’s something that prevents those who have run afoul of the law from ever reentering the regular world. “Once you enter that spiral — there’s really no way to get out,” one law enforcement official said. “You’ll be on probation for the rest of your life.” While sentencing DUI offenders to probation and community service seems on the surface to be a good way to allow the community to benefit from a person’s mistake or lack of judgment, the way the system is constructed, society isn’t so much benefiting as certain members of society are exploiting. Is it reasonable to believe that everyone serving community service has someone who can drive them to their community service? Or to the Sentinel office to have their blood alcohol bracelet read? Or to the job that helps pay off the balance of the fine as well as the weekly fee Sentinel demands for allowing you to be a part of the system? Throw in some low-paid city employee who realizes he has a godlike power over you, and you’ve got a recipe for exploitation. Let’s see what the Sheriff’s Office finds out…You Might Also Like: