PROBATION REFORMS UNDER FIRE CRITICS CLAIM RULES ERODE POLICING JUVENILE OFFENDERS.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

San Fernando Valley juvenile judges and prosecutors told top county probation officers Monday that their programs for reforming gang members and protecting the community from youthful offenders have lost credibility and ceased to be effective.

The meeting marked the climax to weeks of escalating complaints by judges, commissioners, prosecutors and some Valley probation officers - largely ignored by top probation administrators. They said sharp cuts in the probation staff coupled with new probation policies were making it difficult to keep tabs on, and when necessary to impose more restrictions, on the juvenile offenders, particularly gang members.

Richard Shumsky, the county's chief probation officer, defended his new rules on the use of probation violations against offenders and disputed the criticism of the Valley's anti-gang probation program as ``unfair.''

But Superior Court Judge Morton Rochman, supervising judge of the San Fernando Valley Juvenile Court in Sylmar, told him at the Sylmar meeting that the Valley has been stripped of most of its experienced probation officers, including one who focused on graffiti offenders. At the same time, he said, many juvenile probationers violate court orders with impunity because probation officers say they're hamstrung by department detention policies.

``We used to have good relations with probation,'' Rochman told Shumsky, who took over the department in May 1998. ``Now there's a perception we're a nuisance. Orders and conditions are not being recognized. We're not getting the support we need.''

Most Valley probation officers who dealt with the toughest gang members have been transferred to the department's school-based program, to camps for juvenile offenders, he said.

``We're not naive,'' Rochman said. ``You're in Downey, we're in Sylmar. We work with them (local probation officers) on a daily basis. These are real concerns.''

Court Commissioner Gary A. Polinsky, a veteran of the juvenile system, agreed: ``Your department has deteriorated. Your staff is not competent.''

Commissioner Jack Gold, a 20-year veteran of the juvenile system, said probationers curse teachers, wear gang attire, break curfew, and then taunt probation officers their hands are tied by new policies.

``I say (to the officers), bring them to me and I'll deal with them,'' Gold said. ``We're trying to keep the Valley safe.''

Daniel Feldstern, the deputy district attorney in charge of the Sylmar juvenile office, said prosecutors report that probation officers complain about their loss of effectiveness.

``What it comes down to is we're losing confidence in the recommendations made by the probation officers,'' Feldstern said. ``It undermines the credibility of those officers in determining what we do.''

Shumsky defended his emphasis on putting most probation officers in schools, parks and housing projects as the best way to monitor juvenile probationers, as well as to apprehend those violating court orders.

He heatedly disagreed with the characterizations of his staff as having become inexperienced, particularly among supervisors at local camps for youthful offenders.

``That's the most insulting thing I've ever heard,'' Shumsky said. ``It's not constructive.''

Shumsky also disputed that probation officers ignore judges' orders, but did not deny that an ``internal memo'' spells out new criteria limiting detention of juveniles to such serious violations as weapons or drug possession, gang activity or crimes. Detention also is mandated if youths are considered a danger to themselves or to the community.

He said the Valley's gang suppression unit has been restructured and that early next year a mobile unit with two to four officers will augment officers working in the schools.

The commissioners, who want officers working in the communities, said there is a gap in monitoring juvenile probationers that needs to be filled.

``We hear months and months later (that a juvenile violated a court order),'' said Commissioner Robert J. Totten. ``We just want someone to respond, where we can determine if there has been a violation of an order.''