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| Charlie High |
When he meets an offender assigned to him for the first time probation officer Charlie High’s first question is, “Do you know why you are assigned to me?” His response is that they are either an identified gang member or the courts felt the offender should be supervised with special conditions normally used for gang members.
As a Community Threat Group (CTG) officer in Wake County, High supervises a caseload of approximately 70 offenders who are predominantly gang members. It’s no easy task, but High’s law enforcement background, coupled with a desire to help young people, appear to be the right personality traits to do the job.
Like all probation officers, the CTG officers must conduct an assessment of each offender. That validated assessment measures an offender’s risk of re-arrest and his or her criminogenic needs related to things such as dysfunctional family environment, criminal peers, antisocial behavior and values, and substance abuse. The outcome of that assessment determines the offender’s level of supervision, which dictates how the probation/parole officers will supervise the offender. In addition, the officers help ensure that offenders know what is expected of them. They work closely with law enforcement officers in a variety of agencies. They verify offender residences and employment; drug screen offenders and figure out how to steer their offenders down a path to succees while completing the court’s orders.
A former military police officer in the U.S. Army, High says when he first became a probation officer he thought the best thing for him to do was to be tough and that he needed to come at them hard, but he soon found out that is not the most effective way.
“You have to be similar to a doctor and show them some compassion, but at the same time keep your professional distance,” said High. He added, “I try to figure out what is going to work with each offender and carefully explain the conditions that they must adhere to and what those conditions mean.”
The conditions may include curfew; prohibiting contact with known gang members; staying out of known gang areas; and in some cases warrantless searches. High says he always does the searches with another gang task force member for safety reasons. The other gang officers all know how dangerous some of these individuals can be and they also know what to look out for.
That support shared amongst all of the CTG officers and their supervisors is so important says High. We are all willing to help each other out, share intelligence and vent to each other, he said. He says they have a real chemistry that helps them to do their jobs and deal with some real serious offenders.
“Many of these gang members feel that you have three choices in life,” said High. He explained that they think the choices are to be a lawmaker, a follower or a lawbreaker. By choosing to be a lawbreaker, some feel that the only way they will have real success is to put all their energy and effort into it and that they will earn status with every crime they commit. That status means power to many of them, which is what makes them so dangerous.
Officer High says knows that he’s always going to have those offenders who don’t want his help, but he also knows there are many who truly want something better in life. Because of that, High tries to avoid labels and judgment of his offenders. He always strives to give them a chance to show that they mean what they say and if they show a desire to change, he’ll help them do just that.
One of High’s success stories is an offender that we’ll call Joe. When Joe first met Officer High, Joe was pretty high up in a well-known gang, but he told his new probation officer he wanted out of that lifestyle. High says he observed the offender’s actions and felt Joe really wanted to change so he gave Joe a shot. He started inviting Joe to listen in on Officer High’s gang information presentations to community groups. Eventually Joe started feeling comfortable answering audience questions. High says Joe took pride in that and has successfully completed his probation and so far has stayed out of trouble.
When asked what motivates him to continue working with this high-risk group of offenders and the stress that comes with the job, Officer High said, “It’s knowing how things could be and knowing that you can play a role in helping someone succeed. For all of us, offender or not, if you know that someone is willing to give you a chance, it can make all the difference in the world.”
