THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION AS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION DEFINED WITH THE USE OF THE LANGUAGE OF SYSTEMS THINKING
The new Department of Probation, Adult Services Division in New York City is an efficient and an effective organization where each of the case officers knows the probationers for whom he is responsible so well that none of these persons "drops through the cracks" in the departmental system. The case officers have a good rapport with both the city police, officers at city corrections facilities, and officers of the courts system. This rapport assures that probationers are always monitored and under someone's surveillance. This state of affairs developed in the wake of policies implemented by the city government that created teams comprised of representatives of the courts system, the police department, corrections facilities, and the Department of Probation. These teams are invested with the authority to implement changes as required to assure that felons under probation never "drop out of sight" for long.
Within the Department of Probation, case officers and other employees work as teams. Each member of the team is responsible for her or his own duties, as well as for the overall performance of the team. When one member of the team needs help in any given situation, other team members step in to provide that help
Case officers reach out to the police, the officers at corrections facilities, and officers of the courts system to make sure that all are cognizant of relevant information concerning probationers. These case officers do sit back and wait for something to happen.
The new Department of Probation, Adult Services Division does not behave as if it were an isolated organization, as did its predecessor organization. Case officers in the new Department of Probation, Adult Services Division, do not isolate themselves from their colleagues, as case officers did in the old Department of Probat...