exploration 1

While doing my interviews I noticed a few similarities and differences. The probation officers (PO’s) I interviewed were polite, well spoken, and well dressed. They both shared a genuine concern for the well being of their offenders. Which I found to be a bit surprising, I figured working with the worst of society would bring you down but not for these guys. They actually enjoy their work. They look forward to helping rehabilitate the offenders, and help put there life back together.
Not every individual can handle an occupation like this. There is something unique about PO’s, which allows them to posses a quality of understanding and forgiveness. Now what I found interesting about PO’s, is not that they like the variety of different cases, but that they actually have cases they don’t like to work. Each PO is different in what cases they don’t care for. For instance, one PO doesn’t care for anti government offenders. They seem to have a negative out look on probation as a whole. This PO also said that it’s really never the cases but the attitude of the offender that makes a case difficult. Even when I’m asking a negative question they still have a positive answer. Not one of them would straight out say I don’t like theses people. It’s there attitudes they don’t like. How do they do it? Their job is built around negative clients and they continuously find the good. I want to know what makes PO’s so understanding. I wonder if a certain type of person is drawn to this career, or is it just a coincidence that most PO’s are genuinely concerned with the well being of others.
Along with the differences, they also have similarities. I asked both PO’s what they consider to be a flaw in their system. They each gave different answers but both had one in common. Funding was an obvious issue for the federal PO’s. As a group Po’s agreed that funding is miss spent, and other uses would be more appropriate.
I’m going to do more observations to get an accurate view on PO’s. Also, I need more back ground information to really understand how Probation started. I’m hoping the history can relate to the modern day PO. I have come across one problem I knew I would. Since my community has a government affiliation, their responses to my questions are not the whole truth. The Po’s tend to re-word things that sound more appealing, like taking their time to word something, so it doesn’t come out to harsh or rude. It’s not in their best interest to bad mouth the hand that feeds them. I do understand where there coming from, it just makes my research more difficult.