County report includes probation review

By Ryan Howard (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published 07:29 a.m., February 10, 2010

Otter Tail County Probation Director Chuck Kitzman’s Feb. 9 annual 2009 report to the county’s board of commissioners displayed a bit of everything, from age-old axioms to emerging trends to hopes for the future.

Before he began, Kitzman wanted to make something clear. “I always start with this disclaimer,” he said. “Sometimes we are talking about offenses, and sometimes we are talking about offenders.” Some sections of the report deal with the crimes committed, and some sections deal with the people committing the crimes.

Juvenile offenses were down slightly for the department last year, with 306 delinquent or petty offenses in 2009 to 2008’s 332. There were 166 different juvenile offenders.

Alcohol offenses (the possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor), the perennial biggest juvenile delinquent or petty offense category, still sat at the number one position on the probation department’s top 10 most numerous offenses list with 103 offenses, 71 more than the second most common disorderly conduct (32). Tobacco use, with 30 offenses; misdemeanor theft, with 27 offenses; and criminal damage to property, with 15 offenses, rounded out the top five.

Kitzman pointed out that, out of the top 10 offenses, four of them (alcohol offenses, tobacco use, chemical paraphernalia possession and marijuana possession) are related to use of substances that are either banned completely or illegal for minors to use, a statistic that Kitzman said was not surprising.

There were 37 total juvenile traffic offenses in the county last year.

The probation department can deal with children as young as 10 years old. This year, out of the 166 total juvenile offenders, none of them were 10 or 11, and the number of offenders increased for every year older after that, with 56 17-year-olds making up the largest age group of offenders. The racial breakdown of offenders was, according to Kitzman, fairly representative of the racial breakdown of the county.

The law enforcement source of juvenile offenders was also fairly representative of the county’s population breakdown, with the largest source of offenders being the Fergus Falls Police Department, who had 118 offenders last year. The Otter Tail County Attorney’s Office had the second-most offenders with 76, and the Perham Police Department had the third-most with 34.

Kitzman mentioned during his discussion of the source of offenders section of the report that the probation department’s dealings with the Fergus Falls Police Department will change when the department moves from its current location, which is shared with the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department. “We deal with and have to go to the FFPD almost daily for information,” said Kitzman. “We’re going to be disappointed when they move because we can walk right over and get [case background].”

Commissioner John Lindquist asked Kitzman if case information could be electronically obtained from the police department. Kitzman said that that was possible, but he qualified the statement by saying, “There are a lot of things you can do electronically, but one of the things you can’t do is have a good conversation.” He added that such conversations are very important when dealing with a case’s nuances, and he said that the move could mean much more time on the phone and less ease of access to the department. “It does have a cost to us, the further we have to go to get our information,” he said.

There was a brief discussion of community service, and Commissioner Lee Rogness asked how effective and labor intensive community service really is. Kitzman explained that there are a variety of projects that offenders work on, and the probation department oversees the work. He also stressed that the offenders don’t do the work of other county and city employees or departments. “We just do the things they don’t … have time to do,” he said.

On the adult offender side of things, the probation department saw fewer offenses (288) placed under supervision than they did for juvenile offenders, but there were more adult offenders (247) than there were juveniles. Kitzman attributed this to the adult offenders committing fewer crimes per person than the juveniles, many of whom committed multiple offenses. DWI’s were by far the most frequent adult offense with 113 counts, with alcohol offenses (consumption or possession of alcohol by a person aged 18 to 20) coming in a distant second with 29 counts. “[Underage drinking] is a problem in Minnesota,” said Kitzman in an interview with The Daily Journal.

Kitzman also highlighted a little known function of the probation department, that of pre-trial release supervision. Sometimes, people suspected of various alcohol-related crimes are arrested and a court date is set, and until that date the suspect is free to go. However, some of them are subjected to either random testing or a remote alcohol monitoring device to prevent the consumption of alcohol. Kitzman said that 24.39 percent of people subject to random testing and 21.43 percent with a monitoring device still violate their no-alcohol order. “They’re going to [drink] even if they know they’re going to get caught,” said Kitzman, noting that this underscores how debilitating alcoholism can be.

This section tied into Kitzman’s discussion of the county’s DWI court, which combines treatment with judicial supervision. Kitzman reiterated his support for the program, saying, “We are serving the entire county with this program.” Parkers Prairie is the only major city in county that doesn’t have anyone in DWI court.

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