Union calls for safety audit of probation services

IMPACT trade union has called for a safety audit of probation services because its members are facing a growing risk of serious violence from their service users, some of whom are even wearing body armour to appointments.

Brian Horgan, of the probation officers’ branch of the union, told its civil service divisional conference in Portlaoise: “In the last number of years, we have seen a gradual shift in the type of offender we are working with, a shift to a greater number of high-risk clients. Such clients are a product of recent societal changes, for example drug use, particularly the use of cocaine, and the carrying of lethal weapons, are a more common feature within the offender population.

“Often, these same clients are at risk themselves, and it is not at all unusual to meet clients now wearing bullet-proof body armour.”

Mr Horgan said the changed working environment that probation officers face today reflects recent changes in the criminal justice system.

“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.

“Our prison services are grossly overcrowded, resulting in increased demands on the probation services. Probation officers are meeting these clients in offices, or at offenders’ homes, without the security protocols of a prison or a Garda station.”

The probation officers’ branch said that what is needed are:

nSpecific protocols to assess the risk posed by violent clients, sex offenders and those convicted of domestic violence offences.

nA range of pre-emptive policies that guard against the risk of violent attack against probation officers.

nA system that can identify high-risk clients and share information with the relevant services.