Suffolk County Probation Officers are Honored for Community
Policing Efforts to End Gun Violence

Suffolk County Juvenile Assistant Chief Probation Officer John Turner.

Left to right: Robert “Bob” Francis, MassHousing Public Safety consultant; Jacque Furtado, Task Force Program Director; Probation Officer David Giacalone, BMC-West Roxbury; and Mildred Hailey, Task Force Executive Director

Two Suffolk County Probation employees are being honored this month for their community policing initiatives and efforts to crack down on gun and gang violence in the city’s public housing developments.

Last week, Probation Officer David Giacalone of Boston Municipal Court-West Roxbury, was recognized by the Academy, Bromley, Egleston Safety Task Force, one of three safety committees that oversee 30 public housing developments in Boston.

John Turner, an Assistant Chief Probation Officer at Suffolk County Juvenile Court, is scheduled to be honored by the Lower Roxbury/South End Safety Task Force on May 19th.

“David and John are committed and both do a great job in the community,” said Robert “Bob” Francis, a public safety consultant for MassHousing who oversees the safety committees at the housing developments in Suffolk County. “We have a lot of problems with ‘gangbangers’ (gang-affiliated youth). Probation has done a great job coordinating with other law enforcement agencies such as the Boston Police and the Transit Police to address these problems.”

“They are not guys who sit behind a desk. They are very visible. David shows up at all of the meetings with the community, he works with the youths at Bromley-Heath (housing development). He is a good example of community policing,” added Francis.

Mark Prisco, Chief Probation Officer at Boston Municipal Court-West Roxbury, said he is pleased that one of his Probation Officers is being honored in this way.

“P.O. Giacalone excels in every single aspect of Probation. He has a tremendous presence in the community, takes the initiative to oversee an early intervention substance abuse program and performs intense quality supervision of the offenders on his caseload,” Prisco said. “He is deserving of this honor as he has been a dedicated liaison to the Bromley-Heath, Academy, and Egleston community for the past five years.”

Award recipient David Giacalone said of the recognition, “It is a great honor because it comes from the community. As Probation Officers, sometimes we feel that people don’t know what we do. This acknowledgement shows that they understand our role. It is great that we are involved with the community.”

Francis said of Turner, “He was very active in Operation Impact (a Probation community supervision effort modeled after Operation NightLight). We have a lot of problems with ‘gangbangers.’ Probation play an important role in identifying these individuals and assisting us when they trespass on housing property.”

Suffolk County Juvenile Court Chief Probation Officer Steven A. Siciliano, Turner’s boss, commented, “Having John Turner in Juvenile probation has been an asset beyond words. I am extremely happy to see him being honored in this way. He is dedicated to the job and I am happy to see that his tireless efforts are actually being recognized. My entire office operates in this fashion—from the First Assistant Chief Probation Officer all the way down to the support staff and I just wished there could be more honors bestowed amongst my entire staff. Working in the Juvenile Court is a tiresome, stressful and sometimes thankless job. The Juvenile Court PO’s do not get enough credit in the work they do. This award, in some small way, rewards us all for the work that is done in our court and all the Juvenile Courts across the state.”

Turner said of the award, “I approach this with a ‘team philosophy.’ I accept this award on behalf of all of the Probation Officers in the Roxbury Division of the Suffolk County Juvenile Court. We as Probation Officers are stakeholders who are concerned about what is going on in the community.”