Chief Probation Officer Swears In 33 Peace Officers

Thirty-three peace officers were sworn in Thursday to help the San Diego County Probation Department manage the new influx of felons from the state prison system.

“Since August, I’ve promoted 29 officers and hired 31 new Correctional Deputy Probation Officers,” said Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins. “It’s all part of the growth the probation department has to do for the realignment implementation. We will be responsible for at least 2,000 more felons and we have to grow.”

Among those Jenkins promoted was Cesar Escuro, who will serve as the director for the newly created Post Release Offender Division. Escuro, who has a law degree and has worked for the department for 16 years, is “well-suited to manage the new division of high risk offenders,” Jenkins said.

The chief also promoted Denise Huffhines, Robert Pettengill and Christiene Andrews (who did not attend) to Supervising Probation Officers at the ceremony.

He told the supervisors their job will be challenging at times because they must serve as an advocate and voice for those they manage while meeting the needs of their own managers at the same time.

Jenkins also swore in 29 Deputy Probation Officers Thursday, who were promoted from Correctional Deputy Probation Officers. 

“You carry a badge and you carry the status of a peace officer in this state and you will be held to a higher standard. As a probation officer and deputy probation officer, you literally control the liberty of another human,” Jenkins said.

The chief emphasized to the newly sworn officers how important rehabilitation is to their mission. Jenkins told them they need to be able to identify those who really want to change their behavior and offer services and treatment.

“That is what I expect, that is your role,” Jenkins said. “The role of probation is protecting the loved ones behind you - the community at large - and focusing on offenders and trying to reduce recidivism by helping them change their behavior.”

He also told them they needed to commit to excellence to succeed in their careers. He defined excellence in three steps: Caring about your job because you’ve been tasked with it; Working in an ethical way with the highest standard of integrity; and looking for every opportunity to support your coworkers.

Chief Probation Officer Honored as Law Enforcement Official of the Year

Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins (right) and Probation Officer Bobby Burns were both recognized by the San Diego Crime Commission.

When asking local law enforcement leaders who should be named this year’s law enforcement official of the year, the San Diego Crime Commission kept hearing one name again and again – Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins.

Jenkins has worked closely with the public safety community over the past several months in his role as chairman of the Community Corrections Partnership. The group’s executive committee was tasked with a monumental challenge: creating a local plan for public safety realignment, which shifts thousands of offenders from state to county responsibility.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Sheriff Bill Gore sit on the committee with Jenkins, and they presented the award to Jenkins at the San Diego Crime Commission’s awards ceremony Friday. In addition to his work on public safety realignment, Jenkins was honored for his contributions to public safety during his 33-year career, including the design and implementation of special supervision programs for domestic violence, sex and drug offenders.

Probation Officer Bobby Burns was also honored as one of the commission’s 16 Blue Knight award recipients. Other County recipients included Sheriff’s Department Detective Anthony Calvert and District Attorney Investigator Gary Helson.

The San Diego Crime Commission is a non-profit organization which builds public awareness about the impact of crime on the community and provides educational programs throughout the county.

Probation School Educator Named One in Five County Teachers of the Year

There is a place for some of the county’s most high-risk teenagers to go for all sorts of help. It’s a school called Reflections and it’s run by the County Probation department. Reflections is also a day treatment center for the youth who suffer from mental illness, are on probation and have a family in crisis. For their own good, the court orders the teenagers to attend Reflections.

Imagine teaching there. That’s a tough job and yet, one stand-out educator was named one of five County Teachers of the Year. Her name is Alicia McBride and she has a way with these troubled kids. She was given her award at the annual Salute to Teachers event on Oct 1.

“This program is really exceptional,” said McBride. “I work with some of the most at-risk students in San Diego County. Many of these students have given up on the system. They have given up on themselves. It is my mission to provide these students with the necessary skills and confidence to reengage in learning,” McBride said on her application.

Initially McBride said she was flattered by the nomination but didn’t take it seriously until a probation officer changed her mind. The officer told her that while she was certainly deserving of the award, it was not only about her, it was about the Reflections program and the important work they do with troubled adolescents. 

The court-ordered school provides wraparound services for the teenagers by providing medication, addiction counseling and other services. . The campus is in an unmarked office in a business park in La Mesa and has a maximum of 55 students enrolled at one time.

One day in the classroom, the students filed  in and greeted McBride respectfully as she began the day’s lessons. Their first assignment was to write in their journals a response to a quote about judging others. McBride discussed the topic with them briefly and encouraged them to write about an instance where they were wrongly judged or when they wrongly judged someone else.  

Certainly, it is a topic close to their hearts. . Usually when they start the program, the adolescents are at the end of their rope in the educational system.

Success for these students isn’t necessarily about high standardized test scores and can’t be measured the same way as a traditional school, she said. When students are mandated to attend this school, they usually resist at first. They don’t want to take the medication, and they don’t like the program or the staff.

Some of them came from violent street gangs or were accustomed to smoking spice, a legal herb that mimics cannabis.  

McBride said she looks past that all that and makes it her personal mission to connect with each student so that they will be successful.

 “Success comes in very small pieces … I have students who have never come to school five days straight before and now they come here every day,” McBride said. “The big successes are when we get a call from a student who came here three years ago and they are graduating from high school and have plans to go to college.”

Once a student connects with the staff and the program, they don’t want to leave because they’ve never had this much support before, McBride said.

Making a positive difference in the lives of these students is why McBride loves her job. Certainly, it can be challenging at times, but she reminds herself that it is even harder for the students to connect with others.

“It’s a specialty (working with these students). The people who do it, love it, and then we have substitute teachers that come in here and work a half day and say ‘I’ll never come back,’” she said.

Often, the students who leave the program are virtually unrecognizable from the person they were when they arrived.

“Now this amazing person is there that they never knew was inside of them,” McBride said.

Deputy Probation Officer Puts Emergency Training Into Action and Saves Co-worker

Deputy Probation Officer Esmerelda Solorzano (left) was able to save fellow DPO Shirletta Watkins' life with the Heimlech maneuver.

Every two years, Deputy Probation Officer Esmerelda Solorzano goes in for required CPR/First Aid recertification training, but she had never needed it - until this past August when she saved the life of a co-worker who was choking on some almonds.

Her efforts earned her a Chief’s Award from her department and the eternal gratitude of fellow DPO Shirletta Watkins.

The incident happened just before 6 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the Adult Field Services office on Ohio Street in North Park. Most of their co-workers had already gone home for the day. Solorzano was getting ready to leave as well, when she heard a loud noise that made her run into the next work area. The noise turned out to be Watkins who was trying unsuccessfully to gasp for breath.

“It was the scariest moment of my life,” Watkins said.

Unable to breathe, she truly wondered whether she was going to die and she tried desperately to communicate her predicament to her co-workers.

Watkins gestured to her throat and nodded when asked if she was choking. Deputy Probation Officer Bernita Lacy also ran over and assisted Solorzano in trying to assess the situation. When they couldn’t get Watkins to cough on her own, Watkins grabbed another co-worker’s hand and tried to put it around her stomach.

Solorzano realized she had to act fast and do a Heimlich maneuver before Watkins lost consciousness.

“I don’t remember it all. I think I was just on automatic, going on adrenaline,” Solorzano said.  “She (Watkins) turned around, she was ready.”

Lacy acted as a spotter and kept telling Solorzano to do it again and again until finally the food became dislodged after about the seventh abdominal thrust.

Watkins said although she certainly was grateful, she also couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at the end of it all. Yet, she doesn’t mind talking about it because it demonstrates the importance of Heimlich maneuver training.

Solorzano, whose last certification class was in April, said you never get to practice doing a Heimlich maneuver because you don’t want to hurt someone in class. Consequently, you never really know if the abdominal thrusts are too hard or not hard enough.

Yet in those moments, Solorzano didn’t have time to analyze or hesitate.  Watkins said she would advise anyone in Solorzano’s position to put as much pressure as they can into the abdominal thrusts to force whatever object is lodged in someone’s throat to come out.

“I would rather someone hurt me to save my life, then to be too soft and let me die,” Watkins said.

learn more about choking emergencies and training

Probation Dog Ready to Chase Balls Instead of Bad Guys

Despite his sweet demeanor, this white lab has a serious job, and his name provides a clue about his duties with Probation’s East County Gang Task Force.

Kilo is retiring his super-sniffing skills after nine years on the team, working alongside his handler, Deputy Probation Officer Mike Anderson, on searches and operations. Anderson said Kilo’s playful nature helps the dog detect drugs and money that human smell and sight might miss.

“He thinks it’s just a game of hide and seek. He thinks I hide it, and he has to find it,” said Anderson.

 It’s a game that’s produced impressive results. Over the years, Kilo has found: a seizure of 2,121 pounds of marijuana; more than three pounds of methamphetamine; 236 grams of cocaine; and more than $215,000 in cash.

Kilo has also participated in many demonstrations to help the public understand how narcotic-detecting canines do their jobs and the dangers of drug use.

To honor his service, the Probation Department recognized Kilo at the recent Chief’s Awards and the lucky canine received an engraved jar full of dog biscuits.

Kilo will continue to live with Anderson and his family but he will be missed around the office, said Anderson.

“He’s just a big teddy bear. Every time he’s in the office, he just wants to play with everyone.”