Explain the types of training probation/parole officers receive. In your opinion, do you feel probation officers are receiving enough training for the various responsibilities they have? Why or why not?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Combined probation and parole departments require an average of 208 hours of preservice training before officers assume their duties. However, probation and parole offices that are separate require significantly less training for probation officers (84 hours on average) and 182 hours for parole officers. Preservice training requirements range from 0 hours for probation officers in West Virginia to 600 hours for parole and probation officers in North Dakota (Camp, Camp, and May, 2003). So the answer to this question is "it depends.". Except for the agencies that still provide no basic training prior to the assignment of job duties, the situation is improved over past eras when it was thought by many administrators that the best practice was to assign duties to new officers for a short while before sending them to training so that they could better benefit from and understand the training when it was provided. This, quite literally, meant that some new officers went directly from the classroom at their university to the living rooms of their assigned caseload clients. It appears that basic training is important in improving officers' confidence, skill level, and ability to successfully process the myriad of situations they will find during routine supervision. However, no training program can cover all possible scenarios that may occur in the field and philosophies and practices change from year to year, which means that training is a never-ending opportunity for improvement.