Pretrial Services/Misdemeanor Probation Officer

Gallatin County•Bozeman, MT

7d•Onsite

About The Position

This Officer position is located in the Judge Guenther Memorial Center in the Office of Court Services. The primary purpose of this Officer position will include the performance of duties as a Pretrial Services and Misdemeanor Probation Officer as defined in statute and perform or assist with other programs with the Office of Court Services. The Officer is required to work non-traditional hours to include but not limited to early mornings, evenings, and weekends. This Officer position will be responsible for carrying an emergency or after hours on-call phone on a rotating basis. This Officer position reports to the Deputy Director, other supervisors within the office or the Director of Court Services. In this position, the Officer is primarily responsible for monitoring pretrial defendants and misdemeanor probationers in Court Services. May be asked to coordinate with other staff within the office to complete tasks. If the County Commission proclaims a local emergency due to an actual or threatened disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, riot, flood, pandemic, etc., this position is essential and will be required to complete work duties as needed. County employees may be required to provide services during the emergency and for a subsequent period of assessment and recovery.

Requirements

Basic knowledge of the court system, statutory authority of Pretrial Service and Misdemeanor Probation Officers, 46-9-505(3) MCA, and 46-23-1005, MCA and caseload, supervision and interviewing techniques of defendants.
Knowledge of community referral resources would be beneficial.
Duties for this position include motivational interviewing, counseling techniques, jail interviews and supervision to include alcohol and GPS monitoring of pretrial and post sentence defendants.
Officers must have knowledge of the criminal justice system at the local and state level including laws, regulations, and the court systems.
Ability to maintain positive working relationships with defendants, colleagues in the criminal justice system and the general public.
Ability to make excellent judgments.
In-depth knowledge of mental health issues and addictions.
Excellent communication skills are a must.
Knowledge and ability to handle sensitive and confidential information.
Maintain accurate records both for defendant caseload and financial accounts.
Ability to operate basic office machines (phones, fax, copier, etc.).
The person selected for the position must be eligible to attend and successfully complete the designated Public Safety Officers Standards and Training (POST) course of instruction at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy that includes defensive tactics and firearms training.
Work consists of regular contact with defendants and inmates to gather information, monitor activities, provide services, and search for evidence of violations.
Defendants and other information sources may be hostile and may pose a physical threat, which requires the officer to work closely with local law enforcement.
The defendants who have committed these crimes can be dangerous and very difficult to motivate and supervise.
There is increased difficulty in effectively working with offenders who have committed particularly violent or heinous crimes.
Work is performed in situations and environments that provide risk of infection or exposure to bodily fluids, other blood-borne pathogens and communicable diseases.
Locations are often adverse and include jails, searching various homes, buildings and areas that may be extremely unclean and contain dangerous weapons, dirty sharp objects (needles), etc. and /or are located in an unsafe part of the community.
Work is of a nature that officers must work varying schedules to include night and weekend hours and the officer may be called back to work at any hour of the day or night.
The position requires the ability to learn and perform duties that include affecting arrests, the use of physical apprehension techniques, searching of homes, buildings and areas, perform defensive tactics, be able to qualify with firearms, and perform individual tactical movements and maneuvers.
Limited fieldwork may be required at all hours of the day or night in any possible weather condition with the assistance of law enforcement; may be dangerous when dealing with violent defendants or defendants who may be intoxicated or those suffering from mental health issues who are not following their doctor’s orders or those who are taking medications and using other drugs against medical advice.
Position must have the ability to work in a normal office environment, i.e., physical demand of working on a computer and operating standard office equipment.
As a condition of hire, the final candidate will be required to successfully pass a driving and criminal background screening.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of community referral resources would be beneficial.

Responsibilities

Counsels, investigates, interviews defendants, and supervises defendants within the authority established by the court and MCA.
Investigates background and criminal history of defendants.
Independently supervises and manages individual caseload.
Investigates compliance and non-compliance through collateral contacts.
Administers risk assessments and creates case plans based on identified offender needs.
Utilizes incentives and interventions with clients on probation.
Composes and compiles reports, to include pretrial reports, affidavits, completions, and reports of violations.
Must be able to respond to crisis situations where immediate actions without direction from immediate supervisor may lead to life saving circumstances.
Must understand and be able to employ statutory guidelines, case law and evidence-based practices to deescalate situations, authorize or affecting the arrest and detention of defendants, without violating a defendant’s civil rights.
Complete an in-person interview at the Detention Center to determine defendant’s risk level and make recommendations to the Courts regarding reporting conditions and supervision level for reporting requirements.
Queries computerized criminal history databases to include but not limited to CJIN/NCIC, Zuercher and Full Court.
Attends/testifies in court and before administrative bodies on a daily basis.
Performs drug and alcohol testing on defendants and other Court Services clients.
Maintains case files, creates, and updates files in Court Services program databases.
Schedules court appearances for in-custody defendants.
Performs bookkeeping procedures: involving money collection, documenting payments, creating receipts, etc.
Complete non-compliance reports when violations occur on pretrial or post-sentence defendants ordered to Court Services.
Perform installation, monitoring and maintenance on all electronic monitoring equipment to include set-ups, supervision, inventory and payment for equipment.
Assigned to the on-call phone rotation.
Investigate and follow up with reports made by Law Enforcement.
May require returning to work at any time on days off or non-traditional work hours to address violations.
Assists walk-in’s and the public with needs or direct to appropriate staff.
Officers may be directed to perform other duties in absence of staff as required.
Performs a variety of other duties as assigned by the Deputy Director or the Director of Court Services to include attending meetings, conferences and workshops as requested or required to maintain training standards.
May be asked to coordinate with other staff within the office to complete tasks.
If the County Commission proclaims a local emergency due to an actual or threatened disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, riot, flood, pandemic, etc., this position is essential and will be required to complete work duties as needed.
County employees may be required to provide services during the emergency and for a subsequent period of assessment and recovery.