Press Release  Probation Officers participate and maintain safety at Boston’s 46th Annual Caribbean Carnival

Boston — Suffolk County Probation Officers maintained a presence and assisted the Boston Police at the 46^th Annual Boston Caribbean Carnival in the Dorchester section of Boston.

Each year, Probation Officers work with police to enhance public safety at this event which attracts people from all over the world. For more than a decade, the Boston Police have turned to the Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS) to assist with crowd control. Boston Municipal Court Regional Renee Payne coordinated a team of Probation Officers and Assistant Chiefs to help monitor the throngs of festival attendees.

Among the eight MPS employees who worked Saturday, August 24, were Whitehead, Suffolk Juvenile Assistant Chief Lisa Butler, BMC-West Roxbury Probation Officer Kaitlyn Mabee, BMC-Roxbury Probation Officer Joe Robles, BMC-Central Probation Officer Rhonda Greene,  BMC-Roxbury Probation Officer Jessica Pina, Suffolk Probation Officer Mai Robi Hansen, and Boston Juvenile Probation Officer Robert Naigle.

From left to right are Quincy District Probation officer Christine Pancyck, Roxbury Municipal Court Probation Officer Joe Robles, Suffolk Probate & Family Probation Officer Margaret Rose, Angela Rideout, Boston Police Harry Scales, Boston Municipal Central Probation Officer Rhonda Greene, Dorchester Probation Officer Nathania Lescouflair, Dorchester Probation Officer Josephina Perez, and Suffolk Probate & Family Probation Officer Kaitlyn Mabee.

“Our Probation Officers are not only integral members of the court, they are invested in the communities and the people they serve. This group of MPS employees demonstrated this through their presence at the festival and the work they put in beginning at the wee hours of the morning until late in the afternoon. Their efforts contributed to the success of this family-oriented event,” said Commissioner Edward J. Dolan.

Probation Officers, who wear MPS gear, patrolled and monitored the sidewalks of the parade route, which runs from Martin Luther King Boulevard to Warren Street as marchers wend their way down Blue Hill Avenue to Franklin Park in Boston. Those who participated in the parade wore colorful feathered sequin and rhinestone costumes. Some rode on top of trucks outfitted with jumbo speakers blasting loud music. 

The MPS employees were assigned to work three different shifts with the first beginning at 6 to 9 am; the second: noon to 4 pm; and the third from noon to 6 pm. The Probation Officers monitored the crowds who turned out for J'ouvert, a celebration that kicks off the official start of carnival at dawn, until the last shift which ended at 6 pm.

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