I haven’t written about current events, local, national and world wide for a few weeks. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say about them, or even that the news is so depressing no one would want to read what I have to say about it. I have just been chewing on some stuff- trying to formulate my words and reconcile my feelings at the same time.
The political process that took place during the recent debate to solve the financial crisis in the United States was nauseating. The fact that grown men- for the most part- old white men – for the most part, basically had a whose penis is bigger contest- really disgusted me. I read something someone wrote that this was indeed democracy working. Well let me just say- bullshit. This was not democracy working- not for the people anyway. Of course, I know there are people out there that stood behind their particular old white men- and said- “Yeah! Ours IS bigger” but really- none of them spoke for me.
Principle- is meaningless if it serves no one.
You can say you are sticking to your principles, but if they don’t solve the problems then your principles are meaningless and possibly destructive.
Everyone was waiting for the President to jump in and take over. Guess what? That was not his job. It was the job of congress to solve the problem- the fact that the President had to hold the hand and stroke all the so-called leaders was also disgusting. That was not democracy at work. It was babysitting.
After all that, and the 11th hour solution, they have not solved any immediate problems and the US credit rating was lowered anyway, from AAA to AA+. Nice job guys. And oh yeah- the stock market is crashing.
I won’t be voting for anyone that was part of that debate.
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I’ve been listening to and reading several reports and articles analyzing where the probation department went wrong in the Jaycee Dugard case. A lot of finger pointing has gone on and of course, lack of funding for the department seems to be a huge issue.
I see training as the biggest failure- and that starts at the top level management. From the probation departments’ own video, you can see for yourself how the inspection was cursory at best. I believe, the same as I believe for people going into any kind of law enforcement, you have to have an aptitude for the profession. You have to have an innate sense about people. Spidey sense.
It’s been my experience that if you hire the right people they will surpass any training you may give them and contribute their knowledge to the training curriculum. And people with a natural affinity for certain vocations will require less “classroom” type training and that alone is a money saving option when looking at training and development costs.
I don’t pretend to have the answers. I don’t know any of the probation officers that supervised Phillip Garridos, but I do know that for so many of them to not even be curious about the backyard, especially after neighbors had mentioned seeing kids, is negligent at best- and I bet if you were to ask the family of Jaycee Dugard, they would say it’s criminal.
Very recently, A Marin County Deputy, Jim Mathiesen, was shot to death while off duty and helping a friend who was involved in a domestic dispute. The shooter- Halloran was shot to death at the scene by a third party. Mathiesen, a good officer and by all accounts a fine man- shot to death for trying to help someone.
By Gary Klien, The Marin Independent Journal
“The relationship between Halloran and the woman had recently ended, and the woman asked Mathiesen, a family friend, to come over to provide advice and assistance about death threats coming from Halloran”, Basurto said. Halloran had threatened the woman and her family on Monday evening.
Halloran, who was on active state parole, has a history of arrests in both counties, and was once identified in court documents as a confidential drug informant for the Marin County Major Crimes Task Force
Another failure and it looks like the MCMCTF should have known this train wreck was coming too.
Here is the budget for the California Corrections and Rehabilitation Department – I don’t even see where training and development are included for the Parole Officers though I do know they are trained and go through extensive testing- so what gives? Do they just become complacent once they get the job? Maybe they need to readdress the battery of psychological exams – update them to reflect 21st century thinking. Clearly- something needs to change.
Corrections and Rehabilitation Administration $437,172
Corrections Standards Authority $90,782
Juvenile Operations $251,112
Juvenile Education, Vocations, and Offender Program $38,343
Juvenile Paroles $25,258
Juvenile Healthcare $58,090
Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – General Security $ 3,360,099
Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Overtime $ 105,391
Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Inmate Support $ 1,386,034
Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Contracted Facilities $ 413,484
Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Institution Administration $ 440,552
Parole and Community Services – Adult Supervision $ 478,256
Parole Operations-Adult Hearing $ 274,850
Parole Operations-Adult Administration $ 111,495
Board of Parole Hearings $ 66,984
Board of Parole Hearings – Administration $ 7,300
Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Adult Education $ 141,101
Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Contracted Facilities $ 169,739 Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Inmate Activities $ 65,856
Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Administration $ 25,110
Correctional Health Care Services $ 2,070,583
Total: $10,017,591
While gathering all this information I noticed the CDCR had a lot of updated information on their site- and that they are trying to address some of the failures that cost an 11-year-old girl 22 years of her life. I plan to keep an eye on things for a while just for my own sense of security. I’ll keep you posted.
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