Faced with the possibility of having State Parole Agents relocated outside the Santa Cruz area, the Santa Cruz Police Department partnered with the local State Parole Unit Supervisor to keep Parole Agents local.
It is imperative that we ensure an active presence of Parole Agents in the Santa Cruz area. Under the partnership, State Parole agents will work directly out of the Santa Cruz Police Department facility.
With the budget axe falling, State Parole was faced with moving out of the Santa Cruz area and consolidating staff into offices outside of the Santa Cruz area. The Santa Cruz Police Department worked with our local unit supervisor and collaborated on an agreement to provide office space. This move helps to alleviate budget pressures being faced by State Parole Agents throughout California. Further, it helps to ensure an active presence of State Parole Agents in the Santa Cruz area.
Additional benefits include the ability to create closer working relationships and increased access to information for Santa Cruz Police Department patrol officers and detectives. The Santa Cruz Police Department will house up to 4 State Parole Agents in our Investigations unit.
Angela Wilson, Unit Supervisor for State Parole commented, “This move helps ensure vital monitoring of local parolees and better collaboration on important criminal cases. We are excited to be working so closely with the Santa Cruz Police Department”.
Chief Kevin Vogel said, “Adequate supervision of our parolee population is crucial to community safety. Our community will greatly benefit by keeping these resources local as well as the increased access and information sharing”.
The two teams worked together to overcome logistic and tech issues and bring this plan to fruition.
The Santa Cruz Police Department and State Parole Agents have a series of planned compliance sweeps in the months ahead.
