After a scathing legislative audit said the Nevada probation and parole division failed to assess high-risk offenders and collect DNA samples, officials say they have fixed the problems but will seek extra personnel, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The division is short 53 officers. The agency is charged with keeping track of offenders who are sentenced to probation or released on parole, and of sex offenders on lifetime supervision. Officials must meet with offenders when they're first turned over to the division, so an assessment can be made to determine their risk level. Then they are reviewed every six months to see if a change to their supervision should be made. They also submit to monthly inspections.
Officers oversee high-risk offenders at a ratio of 30 to one and sex offenders at a 45-to-one ratio. The legislative audit found that the agency had fallen behind in a variety of areas. “Almost one out of every three high-risk offenders we examined did not have a timely initial assessment and three out of four did not have timely reassessments,” the report said. “The risk and needs assessment helps determine the supervision level, therefore timely and proper classification is critical to offender supervision, caseload management, and public safety.”