Press Release  Worcester Superior Probation team is featured in international news magazine

Worcester, MA — Worcester Superior Probation Officers and their Operation Watchdog initiative with Worcester Police were featured this week in US News & World Report. Operation Watchdog pairs Probation Officers and Worcester Police who make unannounced home visits to sex offenders on Halloween night. The Worcester Superior Probation team included Assistant Chief Probation Officer Anthony J. Gigliotti and Probation Officers Timothy Dupree, Louis Aviles, and Megan Fettes. The team checked on approximately 100 sex offenders on Halloween night. Jean Curtin is Worcester Superior's Chief Probation Officer.

To read the story, click on this link: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/massachusetts/articles/2018-10-31/sex-offenders-to-receive-halloween-probation-visits

Worcester Superior Probation wasn't the only department checking on sex offenders Halloween night. Hampden Superior Court Chief Probation Officer Lorna Spencer was interviewed on WesternMass News for her department's "Operation Lights Out," initiative. Hampden Superior Assistant Chief Michael Manteria and Probation Officers John Sandillo, Kerry-Ann Crichton, and Melissa Turgeon were part of the team that visited 55 sex offenders in Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke.

Across the state at Plymouth Superior Court, Probation Officer Kirsten Delahunt joined a Brockton Police Detective to check on 10 sex offenders. The initiative was kept "low key due to safety concerns," according to Delahunt.

The idea for "Operation Lights Out" was first introduced by New Bedford District Probation Officer Michael Borden in 2006 when Borden learned about a similar effort in the Midwest. Borden was a Probation Officer in Fall River at the time. This year, Borden and New Bedford Probation Officers Kaya Lopes, Melissa Gordon, and Jennifer Foley checked on 35 sex offenders. Bordon said the team added offenders on Conditions of Release with no unsupervised contact with children under 16.
 

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