DCS Annual Report 2015 | Page 13

ENHANCING OUR SERVICES DCS was created in order to enhance Georgia’s ongoing criminal justice reform efforts and help make community corrections services more streamlined, cost-efficient, and, most importantly, effective. We are continuously striving to find ways to expand the capabilities of our services to improve our value to Georgia citizens and best meet the needs of the communities we serve. Some current initiatives include coordinating caseloads for our officers and assuming responsibilities related to the Governor’s Office of Transition, Support and Reentry, misdemeanor probation oversight, and juvenile offenders. COORDINATING OFFICER CASELOADS The unique new responsibilities of DCS Community Supervision Officers merge the supervision responsibilities of former parole and probation officers. As we move towards implementing these newly combined caseloads—the basis of our “one officer-one family-one community” strategy— we’re meeting ongoing supervision needs without a break in service. During our initial operations, officers have continued to work in parallel, complementary functions while we gradually adjust their caseloads to integrate all supervision activities. We expect for all DCS officers to work with combined caseloads within twelve months of DCS operation. July 2015 Six Months (January 2016) Twelve Months (July 2016) and Beyond PAROLE OFFICER FUNCTIONS COMBINED COMMUNITY SUPERVISION FUNCTIONS PROBATION OFFICER FUNCTIONS georgia department of community supervision 10