DE Probation & Parole Officers Need Boost in Staff
The union for Delaware probation and parole officers is the latest to weigh in on the state鈥檚 ongoing prison staffing problems saying it鈥檚 also putting THEM in danger. They point to an incident this past Monday when Probation and Parole Officers conducted a home check on a probationer in Wilmington and the man became unruly and assaulted three of the officers. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 10 President Todd Mumford says this was the fourth time in the past two weeks that probation officers have been injured in encounters with offenders. He says because of the staffing and overcrowding at Delaware prisons, more and more violent offenders, who would have been held on cash bails or sentenced to prison terms in the past, are being released and as a result, probation officers are now monitoring a more violent population which has little fear of any ramifications for their actions. Mumford also said that in spite of being notified in May that the union wants to negotiate a new contract, officials have scheduled no meetings to begin that process.
