'We had no idea what they were doing': Former CDCR agent sounds alarm about lack of monitoring parolees
A former parole agent who worked for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says parolees in the state have not been closely tracked and is warning if things don't change, there could be dangerous consequences.
The former agent says he worked for CDCR for 15 years, including six years in the San Francisco parole office.
He says his concerns started during the pandemic, when agents were told they needed to do most of their work by phone instead of in-person.
"As a sex offender agent, I had GPS tracking information, so I could see pretty much where they were at any given time, but beyond that, what they were doing at those moments I have no idea," said the former agent.
He spoke to KCRA 3 on the condition of his identity being concealed. He said he was fearful of retribution but wanted his safety concerns to be made public.
"It was literally, 'are you abiding by the law today? Yes? Fantastic,'" the former agent said. "Whatever they told us is exactly what we would put in the system."
The former agent said after COVID-19 protocols were lifted, agents did return to the field, but he said there was a directive to not make arrests or do other police work that would generally be involved with parole.
When asked why that kind of directive would have been in place, the former agent said, "Logically speaking, if you do not actively investigate, pursue and arrest these individuals, and we are the best tasked to do that … well now rehabilitation appears that it's working and recidivism is dropping. Because if you're leaving it to external agencies to do your job … it's much less likely that they will be discovered at least as often as they're committing crimes."
https://www.kcra.com/article/former-cdcr-agent-sounds-alarm-about-lack-of-monitoring-parolees/70739509