North Carolina's probation system will be stronger if Gov. Beverly Perdue's budget proposal passes General Assembly scrutiny.

Judicial and law-enforcement officials, as well as probation administrators, welcome her budget ideas, which would add personnel and remove barriers interfering with that administration. It will also take determination, keen understanding and commitment to correct the problems plaguing the system.

In an interview with local probation officers, The Pilot learned that Moore County probation/parole officers typically supervise 90 offenders. Caseloads are probably considerably larger in more populous counties. Even so, 90 cases per officer sounds too big. It is to their credit that no major problems have erupted among the cases supervised in Moore County.

However, Pilot news writer John Chappell learned that the three suspects accused of murdering a 12-year old child in a 2007 home invasion at Cameron were repeat probation violators. They were being supervised from Harnett County, not Moore County. Somehow, that information is not comforting because the victim was still one of us. Not only was she a child, but also she was sick the day the men charged into her home and gunned her down.

No Respecter of County Lines

Supervision of probationers and parolees is a statewide activity, and offenders don't care about county lines when it comes to perpetrating crimes, whether minor or heinous.

Statewide, the system needs fixing. The archaic computer system needs immediate attention, and barriers that prevent officers from keeping track of offenders and checking criminal records should be knocked down.

The probation system is not the liberal institution targeted by the more severe critics. When carried out properly, probation is a cost-saving measure that saves prison bed space and enables offenders to return to society as productive, taxpaying members of the community. This, of course, is the intent behind the system. It sounds overly optimistic, but despite frequent mishaps, the system can benefit both offender and society.

The state clearly cannot afford to house every offender in a prison system that sprawls from mountains to coast. It's just as clear that the state cannot afford the negative consequences of a carelessly operated program intended to keep track of offenders allowed to return to society rather than sentenced to prison.

Updated Tools Are a Must

Just because a person is not in prison does not mean that a probationer is not serving a sentence. Instead, he or she is serving a different sort of sentence, one with restrictions so severe that probationers on occasion say they prefer prison. Probation restricts one's activities and associations, as well as freedom of movement. It can be extremely confining, not to mention embarrassing. It should be, for no one ever said that probation is a picnic.

It's a shame that it took intense investigative reporting by The News & Observer of Raleigh to uncover the dismal condition of the state's probation system. We are indebted to that newspaper for this empowering information.

With adequate supervision, smaller caseloads and wage incentives, North Carolina should be able to attract intelligent and dedicated individuals as probation/parole officers and persuade the best officers to remain on the staff. Once the state hires a sufficient number of officers with top qualifications, then the state must equip them with the legal and physical tools needed to do the best job.

It's now up to the legislature to act.