Probation botched in UNC student's killing

MSNBC/AP ^ | 04/02/2008 | AP

[singfreedom]

Not particularly, but that component was raised by an earlier post and just, sort of, carried over to your post. That is how it was perceived, I think.

[singfreedom]

I posted the training info to clarify that it was usually the RESPONSIBILITY of the agency to train this lady and they had, apparently, failed in that capacity as well.

As to the portion on qualifications, it was to point out that I don’t know what North Carolina considers qualifications for parole officers. The article didn’t specify, but she did have a record of DUI arrests. I don’t know if that, according to their standards, would prevent her being hired in North Carolina.

[srmorton]

In three months, my husband will have been a probation officer in North Carolina for thirty years. He started in 1978 as a regular probation officer. Once the position of intensive officer was created, he was one of the first in the state to hold that position. Intensive probation officers should not have nearly as many cases as this woman did. They are required to see their probationers once a week and to make frequent house checks to make sure that the probationers are in by their 8:00 p.m. curfew. In our judicial district, each intensive officer has a surveillance officer to help make these house checks. Our home phone would start ringing every night about 7:30 pm with his probationers calling to explain why they were not where they were supposed to be.

My husband is now Judicial District Manager and supervises all of the probation officers in our judicial district. I can assure you that probationers with violations like these would have been locked up in a heartbeat. In my experience, the probation officers do a good job, particularly in light of the heavy case load and the voluminous amount of paperwork that is involved.

Much of my husband's job is conducting interviews for hiring new employees. Applicants are required to have at least a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and should preferably have at least some experience in the field. He selects the top three applicants and Raleigh makes the final decision. He has been "forced" to hire some that he did not think were the most suitable for the position. These new employees do receive extensive training. My husband has the equivalent of a MA degree in management due to the training he has received over the years. If this woman has not had training, she must have been a new hire whose training had not yet been scheduled.

I think that there was very likely a breakdown in the entire system for these two thugs to still be on the street. The probation officer has a Case Supervisor and the Case Supervisor has to report to the JDM. He or she in turn has to report to an Assistant Administrator who reports to the Administrator. The Administrator reports to the Director and he reports to the Secretary of the Department of Corrections, both of whom are located in Raleigh. The court system also "messed up" when the hearing was postponed.

I might also mention that the Department of Corrections is one of the most political in the state when it comes to hiring. The person who will most likely replace my husband when he retires later this year is not the most suited for the position, although he has years of experience. He will get the job because his father was the college roommate of a former NC governor. I would also mention that the Democrats have been in charge of the state government in North Carolina for all but 12 of the past 70 years. The last Republican governor left office in 1993. The legislature has been controlled by the Democrats for all but two of those years.

[Moose4]

So the hiring process for probation officers is split between the local and state levels? I ask this because as a resident of Durham County who realizes just how totally screwed up this place is, I was curious how much state oversight would be involved. How can a person with ELEVEN criminal charges in a four-county area over five-years—including a DWI and a CCW violation—possibly be hired as a probation officer?

I don’t know if it’s a racial thing, although it’s pretty much impossible to keep race out of politics around here (and believe me, it’s NOT the white people injecting it). I’d rather know who Ms. Thomas knew in the Durham government in order to get this job, because I just can’t see how she’d be qualified given her record unless she had SOME sort of inside track.

}:-)4

[dragnet2]

I was totally distracted on this thread defending myself against vicious, unjust accusations of racism. During the course of that, I unfortunately missed your post below.

Thank you for that information.

I will tell you, that is probably the most disturbing thing I have heard or read in quite a while. Outrageous does not begin to describe this. ____________________________________________________________

She was an affirmative action hire and she had a criminal record.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6042699

According to probation records, the probation officer in charge of Laurence Lovette never met with the teenager.

Officer Chalita Thomas was pulled off the case in early March, due to a drunken-driving charge. Reportedly, she went by Lovette’s mother’s home in Durham once in late February, but he was not there.

Thomas’ record shows eleven criminal charges filed against her in four counties over five years. The charges include carrying a concealed weapon and two DWI’s  the latest DWI charge was in Wake County last year. “That’s one of the issues we’re looking into as part of our investigation,” Acree said.

[dragnet2]

"This is a dark cloud over our agency," said Robert Lee Guy, director of the state Division of Community Corrections."

You can say that again - louder! True case of criminal incompetence or worse on the part of LE. These two thugs should have been far away, behind bars for life instead of out killing.

After reading about the criminal background of the probation officer, you'd think this story would be receiving lots of news coverage, yet I have heard very little about it.

This cost a beautiful young lady her life, not to mention others that were harmed by these ruthless murdering criminals.

Thanks for putting this up.

[Free Dominoes]

The media covers up a lot of things. Go google Knoxville Atrocity.

[TCats]

To Hil. I beg to disagree - Strongly.

The concept of Affirmative Action has been so twisted and distorted that square pegs have been jammed into round holes. Go to your local DMV Office sometime or look at the efficiencies of the Post Office or IRS for but a few of hundreds of thousands of examples.

It's not a Race thing although the selection factors are based on Race, irrespective of actual qualifications or background, as this particular case demonstrates very, very well and to the detriment of numerous victims.

[dragnet2]

I am familiar with that case. The term savage, does not begin to describe the people involved in that case either.

And you are correct about the media blackout in that case. If memory serves me correctly, even the law enforcement in that case attempted to play it down.

[srmorton]

That is why Raleigh makes the final decision. They go through the motions of having a totally open process, but in Raleigh is where someone who was not the first choice of the interviewer can end up getting the job. My husband has been in the field so long that he is a pretty good judge of people. He has ended up having to hire people that he knew from the interview would end up causing problems, but he had no other option.

[philetus]

this isn’t a black/white issue...to make it a race issue belittles it.”

If you weren’t harping on it most posters wouldn’t give it a second thought.

[Hildy]

I wasn’t the one who brought it up.

[Hildy]

I wasn’t the one who brought it up.

[Balding_Eagle]

I apologize to others here that might come across this article, and my responses to your lying accusations.

No apology needed, your observations are spot on. I've seen that race baiting scenerio happen way too often.

[philetus]

No, Redbob wes and I didn’t see any race allegation by Dragnet2, but you started a race argument with him.

[Hildy]

If we're going to be technical, it was redbob in post 2 who started the whole dang thing:
"...probation officer Chalita Thomas..."
Dare we speculate as to the ethnic background of this criminally incompetent "officer?"