Probation has come under attack across the state -- and one of the situations that illustrates the problem hits close to home.

Three of the suspects accused of killing 12-year-old Emily Elizabeth Haddock in 2007 were on probation at the time of her murder. Two of them were repeat probation violators.

All had been serving probated sentences in Harnett County, and none were supervised by Moore County probation officers.

The shocking nature of this and other crimes allegedly committed by offenders while on probation has called the state's entire probation system into question.

Reports of two men on probation charged with slaying University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson added to a statewide furor over the system and its shortcomings.

"Those two up in Raleigh-Durham put us under the microscope," said Randy Hussey, chief probation officer in Moore County. "The suspects in that case are very young, almost teenagers. That definitely is impacting."

Having your profession under attack and press scrutiny has not been good for morale, officer retention or recruitment here, even though the offices involved are in other counties, according to Hussey.

"The last year has been very difficult," he said. "We have been in the press statewide. The profession is being attracted. It is a tough year when what you have chosen to do is being attacked -- not your county, perhaps, but statewide."

Moore County in general has backed its probation officers, according to their chief.

"Here in this county we have been very well supported from the judiciary, and we have not been criticized," he said. "But it has been a very difficult time to be a probation officer and have your profession attacked almost nightly for a period of time there. First and foremost, you come to this with something inside of you that says, hey, a second chance is a good thing for everybody. A second chance is a good thing. It is public safety."

A Moore County officer typically supervises 90 community-level offenders. Since 1994, state law sets sentences based on the severity of the crime and the offender's prior record level.

Hussey's corrections officers are hopeful about Gov. Beverly Perdue's proposed measures to strengthen probation.

"It depends on whether the state can find the funds," said Mike Dunn, one of Hussey's officers.

Call for Spending

Perdue called for higher pay, lighter caseloads and expanded authority for probation officers. In a budget that otherwise cuts funding, Perdue wants to spend $25 million more on community corrections over the next two years.

Those changes will add more probation and parole officers and more supervisors, increase pay rates to help retain experienced officers and recruit others. It will remove barriers that keep officers from seeing records of juvenile offenders and make warrantless searches a condition of every court order imposing probation as a sentence.

In Moore County, judges almost routinely add authority to conduct warrantless searches, but it is not automatic. Some 118,000 persons were serving probated sentences in North Carolina as of this past week, according to Hussey. Another 44,644 were in prison. Probated sentences are still sentences, despite what the public may think.

"The greatest misunderstanding the public has is probably the perception that being on probation is somehow being lenient to somebody," Hussey said. "Probation supervision is accountability. It depends a great deal on the offender, but when you look at some of our supervision levels there and the different requirements offenders are asked to meet, many times offenders with very short sentences will say they would rather go to jail than live with a probation officer looking over their shoulder."

That happened recently in Moore County Superior Court when a young woman from Pennsylvania told Senior Resident Superior Court Judge James M. Webb she wanted her sentence activated rather than spend a year more on probation. In two months or so, she will be heading home.

A Second Chance

Webb had a different encounter in church not long ago, according to retired Presbyterian missionary John Reagan, whose adopted son had been in trouble off and on for years. He had failed probation and gone to prison but now is a success story.

Probation officers point to his story as evidence that the system of probated and active sentences can work. Lives can change, and when they do, all the people are safer.

"Jim Webb happens to go to the same church we do and was serving as an usher one Sunday when Tosh -- our son -- was with us," Reagan said. "Our son has been out of prison for almost 11 months and is now a productive citizen with two jobs working in Asheville. He went back and said, 'Judge Webb, I just want you to know I am not going to appear before you again.' My wife said, 'I never thought I'd love that boy as much as I love him now.' He wasn't let out on probation. He served his term and cleared his record with the courts."

The system did what it was meant to do, Reagan said. It gave their son a chance to hold himself accountable under supervision. When he did not meet those obligations, he had to serve time. That got his attention, and he turned his life around.

"When he got out and came back to Southern Pines, he could not get a job and could not get in the Army because of his record," the father said. "He had an alcohol problem and a drug problem. He went through the treatment program at Black Mountain. Grove Park Inn interviewed him and said he met standards, but they had no vacancy. He is now sushi chef at Stir Fry in Asheville. They had opened a new branch. One thing I have done is tell probation people what a success he is."

High Success Rate

That kind of praise is rare, but welcome.

"Maybe the public thinks being on probation is not punishment when what they're looking for is punishment," Hussey said. "In reality, probation is sometimes more punishment than serving an active sentence and going to jail. It asks a person to be responsible and accountable, maybe more than they have ever been in their entire life. It is asking for behavioral changes that are hard, that are difficult."

Dunn has been in this line of work for 23 years, Hussey for 29.

Like many others now doing probation work, both started out in other areas related to character development and leadership growth in young people. Dunn was a professional Scout executive with the Boy Scouts of America. His boss, Hussey, wanted to be a science teacher.

Some of a probation officer's work is simply explaining how this second chance works: It's not up to the officer whether an offender is successful in probation or has to serve time.

"I can't send anybody to prison," Dunn said. "I tell all my clients that only they can send themselves to prison. It is our job to keep track of how they follow the orders of the court, whether it is to pay back money, or do community service, stay off drugs, whatever the court says. If they don't report, if they abscond, that is what sends them back to court and into prison."

The idea that being on probation is somehow being "let off" is wrong, or that people who go on probation come right back with new crimes.

"The governor's measure is re-arrest," Hussey said. "Right now, that is 38 percent -- 38 percent of people who complete probation are arrested again. Our revocation rate here in Moore County is about 32 percent. And that young lady that asked to have her sentence activated counts as a revocation. It doesn't count that she came in and asked. That means almost 70 percent complete probation successfully. That's pretty good."

Contact John Chappell at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.