Probation officer

I work for the National Probation Service. As a Probation officer my role is to rehabilitate offenders who are given community sentences and those released from prison; to enforce the conditions of their court orders and release licences and to take whatever steps are in my power to protect the public.

I work closely with other criminal justice agencies, including the police and prisons. For the most dangerous offenders, including sexual and violent offenders, all three agencies are required by law to work together to manage their supervision in the community. Together we agree supervision plans designed to minimise the risk to the public. This work comes under the umbrella of MAPPA – Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements.

As part of my role I may be asked to write assessments on the offender for court, which are known as pre-sentence reports. I can say what I think the sentence will be, based on what I know about the offender and the risk to the public, but it is the court that decides.

If the offender is imprisoned for more than 12 months, I have on-going involvement and supervise them on release. I may not have contact with the family until then but I will have obtained information about the family in my assessment of the offender. This comes from the offender and social services, and the police if they have it and can provide it.

I have contact with social services if I have concerns about the welfare of children. I keep the victim informed about the progress of the sentence and may consult the victim about conditions of release. Consequently, if the victim is a family member I will have contact.