Probation, churches collaborate on local Night Reporting
Center
The San Benito County Probation staff and some local churches
are teaming up to offer a Night Reporting Center at the
Presbyterian Church, as well as some other new programs to help
focus juvenile and adult offenders while they are on probation.
”
A lot of the counties are doing a day reporting center,
”
said Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer for San Benito
County.
”
During the day, offenders should be going to school or working.
We came up with a night reporting program. It will take away some
of the free time.
”
At the Night Reporting Center, Cardall’s staff members have
teamed up with volunteers from the Presbyterian Church and the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to offer tutoring for
juvenile offenders, parenting classes for adults and other support
for both groups.
Probation, churches collaborate on local Night Reporting Center
The San Benito County Probation staff and some local churches are teaming up to offer a Night Reporting Center at the Presbyterian Church, as well as some other new programs to help focus juvenile and adult offenders while they are on probation.
“A lot of the counties are doing a day reporting center,” said Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer for San Benito County. “During the day, offenders should be going to school or working. We came up with a night reporting program. It will take away some of the free time.”
At the Night Reporting Center, Cardall’s staff members have teamed up with volunteers from the Presbyterian Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to offer tutoring for juvenile offenders, parenting classes for adults and other support for both groups.
“This is exciting because the (Presbyterian) Church has opened their doors,” Cardall said. “Usually something like this is costing counties $150,000 to $300,000 so it is not going to be any additional cost to the county.”
Cardall connected with Larry Shaw, from the church, who offered up use of the space. They will have different times set up for adult offenders and juvenile offenders to check in at the center. It will also be used for meetings of programs such as the Community Review Board and the Abuelos Program.
Both programs are relatively new in the county. Cardall brought the idea of the Community Review Board with him from Utah, where he had implemented it in a prior position he held there.
“What happens is it is more of a mentoring program,” Cardall said. “People who have violated probation appear before the board.”
Cardall explained that the offenders who would be allowed to appear before the board would include those who have technical violations of their probation agreements – not for any actually criminal violations. The board can give out sanctions for things such as missing curfew, violating an agreement not to drink alcohol, or other minor offenses. The sanctions can include items such as writing reports or doing community service.
“They are saying a lot of the same things as probation officers,” Cardall said. “But a light turns on when they see, ‘They care about me. They want us to succeed.'”
The members of the CRB are all community members and they don’t have to have a background in law enforcement. There are 15 people on the board now and Cardall said more volunteers are wanted to participate.
Patrick McKenzie first heard about the CRB when Cardall gave a presentation on probation to the San Benito County grand jury, on which McKenzie served as foreman this year.
“He mentioned the review board and I was very curious,” he said. “I had never heard of a program like this and I thought it really had a lot of promise.”
McKenzie said he is hoping the community will become more involved with the people that are incarcerated.
“It is such a big expense for our county and any county,” he said. “People that are in the situation really provide a drag and whatever we can do to solve these problems – I think a lot of them can be solved if we are willing to provide some time and money.”
David Leonardo, the owner of Gavilan Aviation at the Hollister Municipal Airport, is also a member of the board. He heard about it from Cardall.
“It’s a creative solution to some of the problems we have with probation and with non-violent violators,” he said. “I saw it as an opportunity to mentor.”
He said he sees it as an opportunity to give back and also as a way to collaborate in the community.
“People change when they know that someone cares, that someone is watching and that someone is listening,” he said.
He said the chance to have community members rather than law enforcement members on the Community Review Board will change the “us against them” mentality that some people may have when appearing in court.
“We are not law people and not offenders ourselves,” he said. “This offers something in between.”
In Utah, Cardall said the connection with members from the community made the offenders on probation feel more connected to their city and county.
“The board is unique because they have their own perspective,” Cardall said. “They don’t see what we (in law enforcement) see on a daily basis.”
He said in the Utah program, one man went before the board and they asked how long it had been since he had seen his children. The members gave him an assignment to do things with his children the next week.
“They are looking at more of the interactive and personal things,” Cardall said. “They get on track with goal setting and things they are really not seeing.”
The same idea of connecting those on probation with the community is behind the Aubelos Program for local juvenile offenders. Cardall and his staff members identify students who are who are willing to look at their family’s genealogy and whose families are willing to participate. He works with volunteers from the LDS Church, who have a genealogy center on site.
“The church has provided several volunteers to help them with looking up ancestry,” Cardall said. “They learn who their family members are. A lot of times they have no clue – what they did, where they are, where they came from.”
Cardall said the result of the project, which includes interviews with parents and grandparents, as well as the computer searches, is that the students have more pride in themselves and their families.
“It helps them change their behavior – a motivation,” he said. “They want to better themselves.”
Before doing the project, many of the juveniles are disconnected from their families.
“They are connected with their friends and gang members and they have the wrong associations,” he said. “We are teaching the right ones and who to associate with. A lot of times a gang twists their way of thinking.”
At the end of the program, the students give a presentation about what they learned about their families and many of them have more than one generation of their family in attendance during the graduation ceremony.
“They connect and write a report about their mother or grandmother and the struggles they had growing up,” he said. “They are starting to connect and it is really cool seeing them at graduation.”
Other programs that will be enhanced by the Night Reporting Center include the Youth Fit Program and mentoring program that is the planning stages. The Youth Fit Program includes exercise programs at Gold’s Gym and nutrition lessons – and will now include activities at the Presbyterian Church such as volleyball, hockey and basketball.
Capt. Richard Vasquez, who is retiring from the Hollister Police Department, will be in charge of the mentoring program, in which community members will be connected with a juvenile to help them achieve their goals and complete conditions of probation.
“I’m just really impressed that we have someone working – like the person out at the airport who started the Air Show – who are working outside the box,” McKenzie said, “who have some vision and see things coming.”
