IT IS not now unusual for probation officers to meet clients who are wearing bullet-proof body armour, the Impact conference in Portlaoise was told yesterday.
Mary McDonald of the Probation Officers branch of the union said that a growing number of members were at risk of physical violence from service users.
The conference passed a motion calling for a comprehensive risk assessment for each offender to be produced before they were placed under the supervision of the probation service staff.
Ms McDonald said that in the last number of years the probation service had seen a gradual shift in the type of offender that staff were working with as well as a shift towards a greater number of high-risk clients.
‘‘Such clients are a product of recent societal changes you are all familiar with. Drug use, particularly the use of cocaine and the carrying of lethal weapons are more common features within the offender population,” she said.
She said often the clients were at risk themselves and it was not unusual to meet some who were wearing body armour or to hear that they had met a violent death as part of an ongoing battle between rival gangs and drug-related feuds.
“We are seeing more of this type of client because, under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, a part of custodial sentences can be suspended, and those who are released are placed under the supervision of the probation service. For example, this would mean that two or three years of a five-to-seven year sentence could be suspended”.
“A similar situation exists with sex offenders, who having served a custodial sentence may be placed under post-release supervision for a number of years, under the terms of the 2001 Sex Offenders Act,” she said.
Ms McDonald said that the prison services were grossly over-crowded, resulting in increased demands on the probation services.
She said probation officers were meeting clients in offices or at offenders’ homes without the security protocols of a prison or Garda station.
“As a result we are working in a more dangerous environment. The working environment is now more volatile, and in some cases clients pose a real physical threat to probation officers.
“If clients themselves are at risk of violent attack, anyone they come into contact with is potentially facing the same risk. In some cases this risk would also extend to the general public”, she said.
Ms McDonald said that the risks were further complicated by the public service recruitment embargo which meant that staff could not be replaced.
“We are facing an increasing number of offenders being placed under our supervision under the terms of the 2001 and 2006 legislation and the pressures on the prison service.
“But no additional resources are in place to cope with this,” she said.
