With Trump on Deck, City Probation Officers Call for More Help

In the same week that former President Donald Trump sat down for a virtual visit with a New York City probation officer, the union representing those workers says they are facing a severe staffing shortage with more than 200 vacancies.

The Department of Probation currently has 389 probation officers and 169 supervising probation officers — a 45% drop in staff since 2019, according to city records.

The decrease in officers — down approximately 100 this past year alone — is largely due to staff fleeing to other higher paying jobs in nearby counties, according to Dalvanie Powell, president of the United Probation Officers Association.

“The reduced staffing and increased workload are not only unfair to my members but also to the clients we serve,” she wrote to Mayor Eric Adams on May 30. “It does not help my members when they work so hard to build relationships of trust with their clients.”

The push for more probation officers comes at a time when criminal justice experts and advocates are pressing for a greater use of alternatives to jail — like probation and other types of supervised release.

The department has a proposed $110.6 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025 — down 8% from its current $119.9 million.

The department has vacancies for 222 probation officer jobs and for an additional 14 supervising probation officer positions, according to city records.

The City Council has asked the administration of Mayor Eric Adams to restore $9.3 million in funding to fill some of those positions and to pay for added “youth and safety” programs, as part of their budget negotiations for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

“As it stands, workforce attrition presents a challenge to the department,” Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes testified before the City Council on May 17.

“However, we are steadfastly prepared to overcome it,” added Holmes, who previously served as chief of the NYPD’s Training Bureau.

City probation officers are in charge of supervising over 14,000 men, women and youth involved in the criminal justice system, according to the union.

That’s down from the 17,299 “adult supervision cases” and 770 “juvenile supervision cases” in fiscal year 2019, according to the Mayor’s Management Report .

Left Off the Table

Still, the union says that at least 100 new probation officers are needed to keep pace. They contend the starting salary of $45,934 per year isn’t enough to stay afloat in New York City — or compete with higher pay for similar work in nearby counties.

The number increases to around $53,000 after 11 years on the job. By contrast, the NYPD starts at $58,580 and rises to $121,589 after 5 and a half years.

Unlike cops or firefighters, probation officers in New York City also are required to have a bachelor’s degree. The union contends that makes it difficult to recruit new officers.

“We are the only one that has to have a college degree,” Powell told THE CITY, noting most other counties in the state don’t have that requirement.

City probation officers have been working under a contract that expired in November 2020. Under the Taylor Law , their benefits and pay rates remain the same until a new deal is negotiated.

City worker contracts are based on what’s known as pattern bargaining, the century-long practice of giving each public-sector union essentially the same raises and benefit boosts.

But the city’s so-called uniformed workers, among them cops,firefighters, sanitation workers and correction officers, are always given about 1% more in pay raises than their civilian counterparts.

Powell contends that probation officers should also be considered part of the city’s uniformed workforce. That designation would entitle them to greater pay raises and some added benefits.

“We are peace officers. We carry firearms. We make arrests,” said Powell. The job also has a social work component, with officers helping prevent the people under their supervision from getting re-arrested, she added.

In 2021, the union sued the City of New York in federal court, arguing that its members, predominantly women of color, were being discriminated against. That case is still pending .

The implementation of bail reform has also added to probation officers’ caseloads, she added.

“Our cases are getting more violent,” she said, referring to the types of offenses of people on probation. “People aren’t being sentenced to jail like they used to.”

New York’s Raise the Age law, which boosted the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18, has also led to a spike in probation cases, she said. The law has led to more youths being prosecuted in Family Court and sentenced to some type of supervised release overseen by probation officers.

The Probation Department isn’t the only city agency with hundreds of vacancies .

There are thousands of openings at the city Department of Education, City University of New York and Department of Correction, according to a staffing “ dashboard ” posted online by the city’s Comptroller.

As for probation, criminal justice experts and advocates contend that only people with serious offenses should be placed on probation. They argue others should be placed in programs that can help with issues like anger management and given other social services that can help them stay out of trouble.

“The United States has the world’s highest probation rate. And there’s more people you know in the country on probation than there are actually behind bars,” said Victoria Law, co-author of “ Prison by Any Other Name ,” which details flawed alternatives to incarceration programs.

All told, some 3.7 million people were on probation or parole in the country in 2021, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Trump might soon join their ranks.

On Monday, the former commander in chief was interviewed via videoconference for about 30 minutes as part of the pre- sentencing process, according to multiple reports .

His defense lawyer, Todd Blance, also reportedly attended the meeting.

The city’s public defender organizations said that their clients are rarely, if ever, allowed to attend similar meetings remotely with their lawyers.

“All people convicted of crimes should be allowed counsel in their probation interview, not just billionaires,” the defender groups said in a statement. “This is just another example of our two-tiered system of justice.”

The Department of Probation did not respond to an email from THE CITY seeking comment on the staffing issues or Trump’s special treatment.

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