The primary responsibilities and duties of the Probation Officer is to enforce the conditions of an individual’s court ordered supervision, to reduce the risk the offender poses to the community, to provide the offender with access to correctional treatment, and to conduct pre-sentence investigations and reports, in that order of importance.

The purpose of Probation is to enhance the safety of the community by reducing the incidence of criminal acts by a person previously convicted of a crime. This goal is achieved through many different areas such as counseling, guidance, assistance, surveillance and restraint of offenders to enable their reintegration back into society as a law abiding and productive member of the community.

The philosophy of sentencing a person to probation is to avoid future crimes by helping the defendant learn to live productively in the community in which they have committed an offense. It is best thought an offender residing within a community and subject to the will of the community, there is a significant chance the individual will learn to live within the community as a productive member in lieu of confinement from that community network.  Through rehabilitation and reintegration, an individual can be provided with new opportunities to succeed within a community.