Director's Annual Report 2005

In partnership with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), the AO in FY 2005 launched a national training academy for probation and pretrial services officers at the FLETC campus in Charleston , South Carolina. The academy achieved important programmatic goals: to provide new officers with comprehensive and uniform training and to enhance their safety and performance. The academy provides new officers training as soon as possible after they are appointed by their courts. It also offers an ideal environment for training officers who serve as firearms and safety instructors in their districts.

The FLETC campus has simulated neighborhoods for scenario training, interviewing rooms set like living rooms and offices, a courtroom, typical classrooms, firing and defensive driving ranges, and mat rooms. These facilities add to the impact of the training by allowing new and experienced officers to train in environments that closely resemble their work environments.

In its first year of operation, the academy offered a three-week program focused on safety training for new officers, including training in firearms, defensive tactics, and driving safety. The program also included an overview of the federal probation and pretrial services system and instruction in such areas as officer ethics, legal liability, verbal skills, and conflict management. Class size is limited to 24 officers in order to provide each officer with the individualized instruction needed in driver training, firearms instruction, scenario training, and defensive tactics instruction. The first class of new officers graduated on February 11, 2005 , and five more classes followed before the end of the fiscal year. Additionally, consistent access to firing ranges and all of FLETC's training environments allowed the AO to begin centralized training for all officers serving as firearms instructors in their districts. In 2005, the AO trained eight classes of firearms instructors.

Plans for next year are to expand the new officer training program to five weeks to add instruction on officer core responsibilities, including communication and interviewing skills, testifying skills, substance abuse and mental health issues, sentencing guidelines, and use of technology.

Probation and Pretrial Services Technology

The Probation and Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS) continued to evolve as a valuable case tracking and case management tool for officers. In 2005, major enhancements included functionality to assist officers with developing supervision plans and tracking the execution of those plans. In addition, PACTS was modified to incorporate cost-containment initiatives. Furthermore, PACTS became the first Judiciary project to consolidate server-hosting as a proof-of-concept. Twelve districts participated in the program. It will be assessed in early fiscal year 2006 and a decision will be made about expanding this program. The PACTS system also was successfully converted to run on the new Linux operating system platform.

In 2005, the Administrative Office developed the National PACTS Reporting System that aggregates all offender/defendant information from PACTS into a single database. This database allows users to generate workload statistics more accurately and with greater analytical capability than in the past. This database also will provide a key infrastructure component to the Decision Support System that will be developed by allowing the analysis of national PACTS data against external data sources such as the FBI's National Crimes Information Center database and Census data.

In 2005, the Administrative Office expanded its probation and pretrial services mobile technology program to add wireless cards to its successful Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) program. The program allows probation and pretrial services officers to carry their caseload information electronically on a PDA. The PDA also can be updated while in the field and changes subsequently synchronized with PACTS. The new wireless air card program gives officers the mobile ability to connect to all computing services as if they were in the office, including access to e-mail and other databases. During communication outages following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the wireless air cards played a significant role in enabling probation and pretrial services officers to communicate.

In 2005, the Administrative Office piloted a new investigative tool—the Access To LAw Enforcement Systems (ATLAS) program—in three districts. ATLAS provides officers with desktop access to the FBI's National Crimes Information Center (NCIC) and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS). The pilot program has shown ATLAS to increase effectiveness of supervision and investigations by allowing easier accessibility to criminal history records. In addition to ATLAS, the Administrative Office has worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to secure access to the Deportable Alien Control System (DACS). The AO also is working with the U.S. Department of Treasury to secure access to its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). These new investigative tools will continue to assist probation and pretrial services officers in conducting investigations and supervision.

Cost-Containment Initiatives

The probation and pretrial services programs have contained costs by making policy changes that limit certain work while emphasizing mission-critical functions and public safety. Work requirements have been lessened by reducing the number and scope of pretrial services investigation reports, the number of defendants under pretrial supervision, the number and scope of presentence investigation reports, and the number of offenders under post-conviction supervision. The AO has revised policy guidance to probation and pretrial services offices, in the form of monographs and publications, to reflect the work changes. Related reductions in staffing credits have been incorporated in budget management processes; resulting cost savings are estimated to be $144 million by 2009.

In addition, since 2002, the Criminal Law Committee has worked to encourage the identification of offenders who qualify for early termination. From 2002 to 2005, the number of offenders terminated early more than doubled to over 7,500. In September 2005, the Judicial Conference approved further policy changes recommended by the Committee to favor recommending early termination when appropriate conditions are met.

80th Anniversary of the Probation Act

The federal probation and pretrial services system observed an important milestone in 2005, the 80th anniversary of the Probation Act. A joint resolution signed by the Chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law and the AO Director commemorated the anniversary and explained the significance of the Act:

On March 4, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Probation Act and, in doing so, changed the federal justice process. The Act established a probation system in the federal courts and gave the courts power to appoint probation officers and place offenders on probation. This landmark legislation provided an alternative to sending some offenders to prison. Probation provided a way to monitor offenders in the community and to give them the opportunity to become law-abiding, productive members of society.

The anniversary offered an opportunity to pause and reflect on the system's proud history and tradition of service to the court and the community, as well as to international visitors interested in learning about the U.S. probation and pretrial services system.