Friday, July 18, 2008 

(315)  798-5800

Picente Honors Probation, Parole Officers
For Key Role in Community Safety
 

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. today announced that he has proclaimed today “Probation and Parole Officers’ Day” in Oneida County to highlight the important work done by members of the Oneida County Probation Department and the New York State Division of Parole.

“The community corrections system relies upon the efforts of dedicated individuals who enforce the law while helping offenders rehabilitate their lives,” Picente said. “These vital members of the justice system have a tremendous responsibility because their caseload is reflected in the community, and they must make public safety their top priority while also doing everything they can to help men and women who have broken the law get a new start on a better life that will avoid recidivism.”

“When we talk about alternatives to incarceration, or community-based re-entry services, those are efforts that cannot succeed without the members of the Probation Department or the Division of Parole playing a very important role to ensure that agreements are followed, rules are obeyed, and the opportunity given to an individual is used the way it was intended,” Picente said.

Picente said that Oneida County ’s Probation Department exemplifies the diverse types of programming and challenges that community corrections requires. “ Oneida County ’s Probation Department has taken aggressive action to protect the people of Oneida County and supervises 2,000 adults with responsibilities that include surveillance of sex offenders, implementation of alternatives to incarceration programs that lower costs while increasing an offender’s ability to support a family and anti-DWI efforts to keep repeat DWI offenders off the road,” Picente’s proclamation reads.

“Probation and Parole are every bit as vital in our system of public safety as the police, courts and corrections because they have a very difficult dual mission of protecting the public, while also providing an individual an opportunity for rehabilitation,” Picente said. “That’s a lot of responsibility, and I commend all of our Oneida County Probation Officers and the state Parole Officers who work in partnership with them for all their work to protect the people of Oneida County .”

Oneida County Probation Director David A. Tomidy said, “We are particularly proud that in Oneida County the collaboration and information sharing between ALL Law Enforcement Agencies is at an all time high.”