According to Georgia’s Department of Community Supervision (DCS) website, DCS officers carried an average caseload of 109 cases last year. This means that, at any given time, the average officer had a responsibility to supervise an average of 109 offenders – and often this number could often be higher. Given that a typical officer will spend about 10 hours of their 40-hour workweek in court, this leaves only 30 hours per week to supervise an enormous caseload. As a result, DCS officers spent an average of 6.5 minutes in fact-to-face contact with each of their supervisees per month.

In 200-300 words, describe how such constrictions might prevent a probation officer from adequately doing his/her job. Think about supervision, rehabilitation, rapport, etc. Next, in another 200-300 words, describe some changes that Georgia’s DCS and its officers can do to better serve and supervise offenders – without hiring more officers. You will need to be creative for this part, but some more obvious solutions might rely on technology. Feel free to make these up or look for how cutting-edge agencies are combatting this issue already (and cite your sources). There are no wrong answers here, but I will be looking for logical, well-reasoned responses.