There are roughly 1,000 fewer people in Fresno County who are on Felony probation. The County Probation Chief says that is due to changes brought about by Proposition 47.
By turning some felonies, especially drug convictions, into misdemeanors there are now only about 8,000 people under county supervision compared to 9,000 a year ago according to Probation Chief Rick Chavez.
Chavez says it is not necessarily a bad thing that fewer people are on probation as long as people who are now convicted of misdemeanors access treatment for addiction.
“Hopefully addressing this large population that are now misdemeanors, which was really the underlying basis for prop 47, I think we can impact public safety and get people the help they need,” Chavez said.
Chavez says even with the decreased caseload he is asking for more support for his department because his roughly 70 officers are still very overworked.
At the same time, Chavez says he has had difficulty filling dozens of existing vacancy because salary and benefits are not competitive with the state or surrounding counties.
