Sometimes government works the way it should. The public report on the supervision of Phillip Garrido is an example of how government should work.
The State of California released a report on the supervision of Phillip Garrido. The report is lengthy, but worth a read. You can find the report HERE. Essentially the audit found "... that the department repeatedly failed to properly classify and supervise Parolee Garrido during the decade it supervised him. Throughout the course of its supervision of Garrido, we found that the department missed numerous opportunities to discover Garrido's victims...[and] also failed to properly supervise and train its parole agents responsible for Garrido." (letter from David Shaw, Inspector General, CA)
This debacle points clearly to the importance of several things:
1. proper training for officers in the field.
2. the "No Known Cure" perspective when dealing with convicted sex offenders.
3. working in TEAMS when managing sex offenders.
4. caseloads which allow officers to adequately conduct home visits on a regular basis.
5. proper polygraph utilization during supervision.
I wish I could say that this debacle could only happen in California. Unfortunately, this is not correct. Many jurisdictions are inadequately staffed, poorly trained, and hamstrung in discharging their duties by legal departments who are more concerned about being sued by the offender than protecting the public.
I am a strong supporter of protecting the rights of offenders. We cannot violate Constitutional mandates when providing for public safety. However, we can - and should - always error on the side of protecting the public. I'd rather be sued by an offender than by the family of a victim. Thoughtful approaches to supervision should never put us in the place of being legitimately sued (you can't protect against frivolous suits) by either offenders or victims. But if we're going to error, lets error on the side of protecting innocent citizens.
I encourage all of you who work in community corrections to take the time to read the audit on the Garrido case. Think about your local P&P and ask "... could it happen here?". An honest appraisal of our own practices is always helpful.
My kudos to the State of California for its prompt and careful examination of this situation. The supervision of Garrido was not government performing up to expectations, but the review was government at its best. Let's all use their experience and candor in telling it like it is to help avoid this situation ever happening again elsewhere.
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