Bicycle Patrol
Recently, Darrin Dill of the San Francisco Adult Probation Department won the California Probation Officer of the Year award for his innovative work in the heart of the city.
For years, the probation officer operated like most of his colleagues in the department – setting up office hours at the Hall of Justice and waiting for those on probation to come to him for their court-mandated check-ins. But with a caseload of hundreds of homeless people, many of them struggling with drug addictions or mental illness and with their life’s belongings piled in shopping carts, Dill found getting them to come to his office wasn’t easy. His clients would frequently fail to report to him, a violation for which they risked being arrested and sent back to jail – after which they’d be released, put on probation again and miss more appointments in an expensive, jail-crowding cycle. So, Dill decided nine months ago, if his clients wouldn’t come to him, he’d go to them – on a blue, 24-speed Trek bicycle. Now, he spends every Tuesday and Thursday riding around the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods looking for his clients in alleys, in soup kitchens, in sleeping bags and wherever else they may be. Dill is believed to be the only probation officer-on-wheels working with homeless people in the country.
More on this innovative plan from the San Francisco Chronicle.