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Managers in the Wake County and Durham County probation offices who were demoted last year during a shake-up in the state's probation system have been reinstated to supervisory positions, WRAL News has learned.
Wake County will beta test a new Web-based information system that will help those in the criminal justice system make better informed decisions in the interest of public safety.
Gov. Bev Perdue has signed a bill that will give law enforcement and probation officers the authority to perform warrantless searches in certain situations and give probation officers limited access to juvenile records.
In its first week in use in Wake County, the NCAWARE (North Carolina Arrest Warrant Repository) system helped police determine that a suspect in one crime was wanted for several others.
The system alerts probation officers when an offender they are supervising is arrested or convicted and when a warrant or order for arrest is issued, officials said.
A person already on probation who is arrested for a felony would be required to face a judge before being released on bond under proposed legislation.
Gov. Bev Perdue on Friday said she wants to spend more $13.5 million in the 2009-2010 fiscal year on changes to toughen the state's probation system and improve public and law enforcement access to information about offenders.
The state's probation system is undergoing an overhaul sparked by the shooting deaths of UNC undergraduate Eve Carson and Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
State Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, plan to introduce a bill making it easier for any law enforcement officer to perform warrantless searches on probationers and requiring that probationers submit to random drug tests.
Tim Moose replaces Robert Guy, the embattled director of the state Division of Community Corrections who left last week.
Robert Guy, director of the Division of Community Corrections, is leaving the post, which he has held for the past 12 years.
Robert Guy, director of the Division of Community Corrections, is retiring from the post Feb. 1 after nearly a year of critical headlines involving his agency.
Robert Guy, the director of the Division of Community Corrections, told WRAL News on Saturday that he submitted his retirement paper three weeks ago.
Governor-elect Beverly Perdue on Friday filled three public safety positions in her new cabinet. The beleaguered chief of the state's probation office won't serve in her administration.
The head of the state's probation system says more resources are needed to help the troubled program, which has been under scrutiny for oversights in the cases of offenders' charged in a number of high-profile criminal cases this year.
Juveniles in North Carolina committed 46,231 crimes last year. With those crimes leading to 437 people serving time at a detention center, there is growing concern over whether to allow access to juvenile court records of those later processed in the adult-court system.
State probation officials say they are looking at how four men charged in the shooting death of Raleigh cab driver Michael Palmer were being tracked.
Wake County will get nine of 29 new jobs the Legislature created this year after an investigation prompted by the slayings of Abhijit Mahato and Eve Carson.
In September, a judge sentenced Steven Sylvester to 30 months' probation for other crimes. Six months was supposed to include several face-to-face weekly meetings with a probation officer.
North Carolina leaders say the state's probation system needs immediate attention to correct persistent problems.
The Web-based application alerts probation officers when an offender in their caseload is arrested or convicted and when a warrant or order for arrest is issued, Department of Corrections spokesman Keith Acree said in a news release.
Starting Jan. 1, all probation officers in the state will be required to use a new online tool to help them track offenders.
The largest line item in the proposal is more than $1.7 million per year to hire an additional 20 probation officers and six supervisors.
The state called in the National Institute of Corrections to review probation issues after the deaths of Abhijit Mahato and Eve Marie Carson.
Investigative reports obtained Monday by WRAL News show Durham and Wake County offices were disorganized and inefficient at the time two local college students were slain.
N.C. probation officials are headed to Washington today to learn ways to improve the state's probation system. A federal agency shared its insights after the murder of UNC’s Eve Carson brought problems to light.
Federal officials plan to meet with state correction officials today to discuss the report. The state asked the agency for its insights after the murder of UNC’s Eve Carson brought problems to light.
Senior managers in the state's probation system are working out problems found during an internal review of Wake County's probation office.
Several top managers in the probation offices in Wake and Durham counties have retired or have been reassigned in the wake of how the offices handled the men charged in the slayings of two area college students.
A $13.5 million pilot program is up and running in Johnston County and provides criminal information at the click of a mouse.
The probation system isn't broken, Robert Guy says. Vacancies, turnover and poor pay are to blame for many of the problems, he says.
Earlier this month, the National Institute of Corrections began reviewing the offices in major urban areas at the request of the Department of Correction.
A report by the Durham city manager says Laurence Lovette Jr. might have been in jail if he'd been charged with more serious crimes for a home break-in before the murders of Eve Carson and Abhijit Mahato.
A Durham man arrested Wednesday in an April slaying is the latest person to be charged with murder while on probation for earlier offenses.
The state Department of Correction will get the needed funding to fix problems that have plagued the probation system in recent months, Gov. Mike Easley said Monday.
Officials said the state Department of Correction is working to tap into an SBI database to let law enforcement across the state track offenders on probation and parole.
The National Institute of Corrections will assemble a team of up to four advisers to look at case management, staffing levels, employee training and other areas of concern.
Michael Anthony Hudson, 21, was arrested last week for violating his probation from a 2005 drug conviction, Durham County Assistant District Attorney Mitch Garrell said.
A report eight years ago showed the office was failing to re-arrest people who committed serious crimes or to notify supervisors when serious offenders missed appointments.
The National Institute of Corrections provides policy development assistance, technical assistance and training to federal, state and local corrections agencies.
It's possible to get a convicted offender's probation revoked when he or she is arrested in another crime, but it's also difficult and ties up the court system, a local defense attorney says.
A man put on probation in 2005 has been arrested nine times since and is now wanted in a November shooting.
Cory Jiggets, 19, was on probation when Skye Moniqua Lee was killed March 31. He had been on probation since 2006.
Donnie Harrison calls for better communication among the parts of the law enforcement system, including the probation system and the courts.
As many as 10 staff touched the case file of a defendant in the slaying of a UNC student and didn't address red flags, Robert Guy, director of the state Division of Community Corrections, said.
Two more men accused of homicides in recent months were on probation for misdemeanor crimes when they were arrested.
Nearly a month after being allowed to leave court on the same charge, Demario James Atwater waived a probable cause hearing during his brief court appearance Monday.
Prosecutors say they need a court order to review them, and it's up to a judge whether to allow them in open court.
The state is looking closer at probation offices in Wake and Durham counties to find out why the suspects in two recent college slayings were overlooked.
Laurence Lovette's probation officer has a criminal record, according to the state Department of Correction.
Why was Demario James Atwater overlooked by the state's parole system, and why was a hearing about a parole violation rescheduled?
A series of clerical errors forestalled the possibility of Demario James Atwater going to jail just days before the slaying of UNC senior Eve Carson.
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