Probation/Parole Officer’s Dashboard

1. Probation/Parole Officer’s Dashboard Robert Brinson Chief Information Officer North Carolina Department of Correction

2. PPO Dashboard • A probation/parole officer (PPO) arrives at work and turns on her computer to view her list of cases. • In red, she sees that an offender on her caseload has been arrested overnight. That requires immediate action. • Another highlight shows her that an absconder can now be located in a county jail. • Another shows a 2 A.M. traffic stop: curfew violation • These examples show the power of the Dashboard and the innovation of how a dashboard can be used, not only as a management tool, but also as a working tool for the officers.

3. Why is the Dashboard a priority? • Corrections costs are taking an increasing percentage of state budgets • Shifting offenders from prison to probation/parole supervision helps reduce overall costs but results in higher PPO caseloads • It also results in offenders who may be having more frequent interaction with law enforcement and courts • To manage this new environment, there is an urgent need for: • A single-view tool to reduce a PPO’s administrative work, allowing the PPO to spend more time really working with the offender • An integrated notification capability to alert the PPO to new criminal interactions between probationers, law enforcement, and courts • To be successful, we have to target tools for the PPO

4. Learning how an officer works • Spent time with the officers and saw that every step was an effort • What new people do I have? • Who do I need to see? • What needs to happen with them? • When do I need to be in court? • Have I missed any deadlines? • Everything involved accessing multiple systems, running multiple reports, and manually combining the information to get the complete picture of their caseload

5. The Roster • We created a web-based roster that provides a single-view listing of all offenders on an officer’s caseload • This listing displays basic information on each offender including addresses, a picture, and most recent contact information • A web-based feedback system was also incorporated into the application to allow officers to submit any questions, requests, or comments that would help make the system a better tool

6. Officer Reaction to Roster • Immediately saw the power of having all their information in one place, on one screen • Once they saw the potential, there was no shortage of ideas on how to make it better • Officer’s seeing their suggestions implemented in the Dashboard has been a real morale booster and has given them a sense of ownership in a tool that helps them do their jobs more effectively

7. Roster Screen Offender Contact Information & Picture Past Due & Upcoming highlighted items Appointment Calendar

8. Alerts • Offenders constantly interact with courts and law enforcement…we needed to capture that • In 2008, our Legislature told Correction and Courts to build a link • The result is that statewide court information, including arrest warrants, now comes to us every night

9. Alerts • We match this data to our offenders • We present the likely matches on the Roster by highlighting the offender picture in red • The officer confirms the match (we correctly match over 95% of the time) and determines what action to take

10. Dashboard Features • Click on one red button to see all items that are past due, or click on one yellow button to see all items coming due • Click to see home visits or office contacts past due or coming due. • Filter even further to show only higher risk offenders • Once filtered to a high priority workable list for home visits, click on a button to produce the most efficient mapping of these addresses to reduce the travel time • Show a calendar of court dates and office appointments for an offender • Click to see all case notes and risks/needs information, viewable as the officer speaks with the offender

11. Dashboard Features Quickly see when the next Home and Office contacts are due Quickly filter to attention items or upcoming items Click to see all case notes and risks/needs information Quickly see court dates & pending violations Critical: new criminal activity alert from Court data

12. Roster Filter Options • Quickly Filter caseload: • to high risk offenders • with specific sanctions • with past due Home contacts

13. Other Dashboard Features Calendar of court dates and office appointments Optimized route of addresses for home contacts – saves gas, reduces travel time

15. Future Enhancements • Exception-based views for supervisors and managers • Smart phone application for PPO • Schedule next appointment • Map offender’s address for home contact • Record case notes for automatic transcription • View important dates & attention items

16. Smart phone Application List created from the Dashboard Roster Touch screen to select offender and see offender details

17. Benefits • Everything the officer needs is presented in one place, eliminating the need to pull information from multiple systems & reports • Provides quick view of high risk offenders that need attention • Important events and tasks are highlighted • Contacts with courts and law enforcement add new eyes to help manage the offender • Officer is able to take immediate action, which reduces crime • Saves officer time which allows more time for real case planning with the offender