2005: A Year in Review
The Massachusetts Probation Service's Top Ten Stories

The Year 2005 was a year of firsts for the Massachusetts Probation Service which introduced its Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System, a monitoring program for sex offenders. It was also a year when probation employees worked to enhance the lives of citizens locally, nationally and globally.

1.     Introduction of GPS (Global Positioning Satellite System) to track sex offenders. Massachusetts Probation Service's GPS System was introduced in May 2005. Probation became the sole monitoring agency for GPS in the state for probationers and parolees. There are currently 88 probationers on the GPS system. Offenders are outfitted with an ankle bracelet which transmits a signal to a cell phone and GPS tracker on a belt. The GPS System is linked with the U.S. Defense Department satellites which are orbiting 12,000 miles above the earth. The devices send information on the offenders' whereabouts every five minutes to Probation's Electronic Monitoring Center. A judge determines who will be placed on the GPS System.

2.     PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) service and resources for probationers.

Soldiers returning from combat in Iraq now have Probation Officers to turn to if they become court-involved and suffer with symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Massachusetts Probation Service created a new informational resource to help Probation Officers address the needs of court-involved veterans and soldiers. Most Probation Departments throughout the state have a comprehensive resource packet for Probation Officers who use this information to help offenders suffering with PTSD. The packet includes a list of Veteran’s Service Agents and Veteran Service facilities such as hospitals and clinics as well as private facilities where counseling is offered. The packet also includes a number of clinical explanations, including a description of PTSD symptoms: how they occur and are treated. There is information on the effect of PTSD on the offender’s family. A copy of a DVD, made available by the District Attorney Bill Keating on the issue of Post Traumatic Stress, is part of the packet.

3.     Suffolk Juvenile Probation Officers Participate in "Occupation" of Neighborhood Marred by Crime.

Suffolk County Juvenile Probation Officers underscored the importance of presence in the community when they joined a local clergyman, law enforcement and community representatives who took over a neighborhood that had been rocked by shootings and overrun by drug dealers. The week-long "occupation and liberation" initiative was led by Reverend Bruce Wall, pastor of the Global Ministries Church. Each night in early August, Probation Officers patrolled the Lyndhurst Street area of Dorchester, the scene of numerous shootings, and adjacent streets where they performed curfew checks and informed residents of the various court services and community programs offered by the court.

4.      Massachusetts Probation Service Employees Assist with the New Orleans Recovery Effort.

From taking in a family of nine into their home to shoring up flood waters with 2,000- pound sandbags to helping resettle hurricane victims, Probation Employees came to the rescue of hundreds of New Orleans residents whose lives were impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Bristol County Probate & Family Court Chief Probation Officer James Casey opened his home to a family of nine, including their 80-year-old matriarch as well as family pets. Family members have found homes and jobs and plan to stay in the New Bedford area. Hampden Superior Court Probation Officers Jason Harder and Alberto Perez traveled to Louisiana to help bring medical services and security to the devastated area. Harder, a medical technician in the 104th Medical Group of the Air National Guard, worked at a 25-bed hospital just outside of the center of New Orleans. He also joined an Army Aviation Unit which ferried 2,000 pound sand bags, via helicopter, to shore up damaged levees already destroyed by the first hurricane. Perez, a chaplain in the Army National Guard, provided counseling and support to hurricane victims and helped to stabilize the area during his tour.

5.      Springfield District Court Chief Probation Officer Brings to Justice Offender on Lam for 12 Years.

Springfield District Court Chief Probation Officer John Morganstern employed his online detective skills to positively identify an offender who has been on the lam for 12 years. Offender Jose Pagan, granted a two-week stay by a Hampden Superior Court judge, skipped town in 1993 when he received a three to five year state prison sentence for drug charges.

6.      Probation Employee Assists Massachusetts State Police in Apprehension of Fugitives.

Donna Reed, Interstate Compact Coordinator for the Office of the Commissioner of Probation, was honored by the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section for assisting the group with locating fugitives, absconders and teenage runaways. She also arranged for the safe return of the teenage runaways to their homes in the Commonwealth.

7.     Community Service Crews Help Create a New Ward for Women Veterans.

Offenders, assigned to a Massachusetts Trial Court Community Service crew, renovated a wing in the Soldiers' Home to provide special quarters for women veterans. The Soldiers' Home in Chelsea opened an eight-bed ward to accommodate the rising number of female veterans.

8.      Four Sex Offenders Targeted on Most Wanted List are Located.

Sex offenders, featured on the Most Wanted Lists of the Hampden Superior Court and Franklin Superior Court Probation Departments, were captured within days after Probation released a "Most Wanted" listing.

9.      Juvenile Probation Officers Address Truancy.

Juvenile Court Probation Officers helped educators address truancy problems in schools statewide by maintaining a presence in school corridors and setting up offices at public schools throughout the state. Probation Officers in Massachusetts worked closely with the 26,119 children currently under probation supervision and/or who are court-involved in the 14 counties throughout the state.

10.      Assistant Chief Probation Officer Teaches Massachusetts Probation Concept and Mediation in Ethiopia.

Lourenco "Larry" Lopes of the Fall River District Court began 2005 in Ethiopia where he conducted training on probation and mediation for attorneys in the East African country. Lopes trained 30 Ethiopian attorneys at the Ethiopian Arbitration Conciliation Centre (EACC) in Addis Ababa, one of two arbitration facilities in the country.