SOUTH SIDE Officers increase presence in neighborhood of parolees

The new office addresses a top concern: repeat offenders.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A parole officer knocked on a South Side man's door at 9 p.m. on a recent Sunday night.
The officer was doing his job, making sure the man was at home where he was supposed to be.
Such off-hour visits aren't unusual. Parolees or probationers, however, now can expect even more of them. The Ohio Adult Parole Authority has opened a new, special office on Market Street.
Authorities say the new office's proximity and focus -- Weed and Seed neighborhoods -- will make it easier to monitor the 225 or so people living there who are under state supervision. Those being watched already are noticing, just six weeks after the office opened.
"It's surprised some of the offenders," said John Geras Jr., one of three parole officers assigned to the office.
Residents will feel safer, too, knowing that probation officers are concentrating on Weed and Seed streets, said Veronica Foster. She is coordinator of the federally funded crime-fighting and neighborhood improvement program.
"I don't think the criminals will be real happy about it, but the residents and the businesses are," Foster said.
Top concern
Surveys show that repeat offenders committing crimes is a top concern of residents and business owners within the Weed and Seed area, she said.
The program's boundaries, which take in much of the South Side, have the city's highest concentration of people under court or post-prison supervision. About 100 are on parole from prison, and the rest are on probation from court.
Eventually, Weed and Seed wants to offer job and other skill training to such residents, Foster said.
The parole office is at 1620 Market St. in the building where Community Corrections Association, a halfway house, has its graphics and print shop.
CCA had the space and offered it free to the parole authority. Having parole officers working from there lets neighborhood troublemakers and CCA clients know they're being watched, said Richard J. Billak, the agency's chief executive.
"It just made sense," he said.
Benefits
The parole authority has two dozen officers working out of a Belmont Avenue office. Having three officers dedicated to a defined geography, however, creates many benefits.
Officers can check on parolees or probationers more frequently when they are closer to the office, said Joseph Dubina, the parole authority's regional supervisor. That should help reduce recidivism, he said. Usually, parole officers have a caseload that is spread around the county.
Block watches and other community groups will be invited to use the office for meetings. That way, residents can get to know the parole officers working their streets. Dubina expects his agency to weave its way into the fiber of the neighborhood.
"It's really going to snowball. It's not a fad. We're committed to it," he said.
The arrangement puts three more law enforcement officers in the area every day. The parole officers can help police with neighborhood information and even offer an extra hand when the need arises, said Lt. Rod Foley.
Police discovery
City police and the parole authority have worked together for years. Parole officers have been riding with police during Weed and Seed saturation patrols. Parole officers have made more than 2,000 checks on their clients and dozens of arrests for violations the past three years, Foley said.
But police were finding that up to 40 percent of the people they were arresting in the Weed and Seed area were under supervision. That's why police sought even closer working relations with the parole authority, he said.
Another benefit is that the probation office should remain a legacy to the South Side, said Foster, the Weed and Seed coordinator.
The office and parole officers will keep focusing on the area even if the city's Weed and Seed grant one day isn't renewed or the program moves to a different side of town, she said.
rgsmith@vindy.com