NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds of people packed out a town hall meeting in Lakeview Tuesday night, furious and demanding answers about what to do with kids who commit crimes.
Members of New Orleans City Council were there, too. Joe Giarrusso and Helena Moreno, city council members, mentioned a program in Jefferson Parish that they believe would work in Orleans Parish.
Jefferson Parish is one of only about five parishes in the state with its own probation department. According to the Director of Juvenile Services in JP, they have 45 probation officers overall. Three of those come from the sheriff's office for its intensive juvenile probation program.
"They are checking with these kids several times a week," Moreno said.
This means the sheriff's deputies will check in regularly with kids who have been in trouble with the law. This agreement between the parish and the sheriff's office costs the parish $215,000 per year to have these three deputies dedicated to working with these kids.
Moreno explained, ordinarily, state probation and parole deal with these offenders. She claims they are stretched thin. Jefferson Parish, having an in-house probation program, is able to monitor the juvenile offenders more.
"One of the issues I think we're having is when it comes to those juveniles who seem to be repeat offenders, there doesn't seem to be additional supervision for these offenders," Moreno said.
Giarruso and Moreno said a program like in Jefferson Parish might be feasible and beneficial in New Orleans as they're trying to find ways to decrease the juvenile crime.
"I certainly think that is a workable option. We've met with the chief about this he is reviewing it talking to Sheriff Lopento to see if this is something that could happen here," Moreno said.
Moreno and Giarrusso think $215,000 could be money well spent in Orleans Parish, funding three probation officers to work directly with kids. Now, Orleans Parish decision-makers are talking to their counterparts in Jefferson Parish to learn more about how this works.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.