So of course I was superrr excited to start another day with the CCO's (Community Correction officers or probation/parole officers where I come from). This time we stayed in Seattle, so we were in King County. My partner in crime, Riley, was paired with me again, and we were put with two correction officers that handled the entire metro area of Seattle. They deal with offenders of all types. Right away we actually sat in on a meeting about new policy that they have to follow for offenders that have violations. Honestly, I dozed off a few times haha, but mostly everything they were talking about was way over my head anyways. By the time the meeting was done it was 10 o'clock, so we then went down to their offices. We sat in on a few office visits from offenders, which I loved. There was a few sex offenders again, some with drug use, or harassment etc. My favorite part was witnessing an arrest. I first sat in on the meeting with the guy that got arrested, and he first had a violation because he failed to report (which basically means he didn't meet with his correction officer when he was suppose to). He claimed that he was at the hospital, and would bring the verification that he was there to the meeting today, but he didn't. He knew the consequences, and basically went pretty calmly.
Around noon we went out in the field with one of the officers, while the other did paper work in her office, but another officer joined us. We were going to see three people on his caseload. One was actually a pretty scary offender, and I was super excited, but unfortunately we couldn't get ahold of any his offenders. So that officer had 3 warrants to write, which kinda sucks. There is just soooooo much documentation to do, but I have already gotten a taste of that with my one semester in my social work program. Even though it's a drag, it'll just be one thing that needs to be done. We didn't get back from trying to find his three guys until two, then we finally got to go eat, and I was starving. We went to this really nice burger place, and we actually took the officers out and paid for their lunch as well as a way to say thanks.
After we ate, we went back out to the field, and had seventeen people to see in two different housing complexes that were right next to each other. Out of those seventeen, we saw three of them. It was crazy to me, but sometimes that's just how things go. Sometimes the offenders will be at work, or searching for work during the day, so sometimes it's hard to come in contact with them. After we finished that up it was around 4:15, and we went back to the offices. Apparently while we were gone there was a really intense arresting where the guy was really resisting, yelling, crying, and swearing. It was SUCH a bummer that we missed it. We also learned about U.A.'s (Urinary Analysis) which is actually really really disgusting. It's not like a pee test from a doctor, but it's a test that has little tabs all over it, and can instantly test for any type of drug use that you could think of. There was a cool little situation where a couple officers were arguing whether or not they could see a line or not (two lines on the test is negative for the drug, and only one means it's positive). It ended up being a faulty test in the end, and the guy ended up being clean. Towards the end of the day we sat in the offices, and looked at the computer system a little bit, and got to search through their files and read offenders paperwork, which was really awesome. I got to read a women's entire file that I had actually saw that day. She was a sex offender, and I got to read the really detailed report. It continues to blow my mind what a nice face is capable of. There were definitely some offenders that you could tell were just trying to follow the rules, and others that were trying to get pity from you so that you wouldn't give them a violation, or arrest them. I really liked being in their offices, and having other officers stop by to talk with us, and to just joke around. It is a lot of fun, and I'm excited to have an office with fellow employees that I enjoy (hopefully) working with.
We had to wait awhile once the offices closed for the other group of our team to get back from Tacoma (the town I was in yesterday) so we got the chance to talk to our student staff on team, and get to know them more. One of them shared their testimony, and it was absolutely amazing. She is an incredibly strong person, and it just reminds you how amazing God's love and mercy is, and how faithful he is to continue to run after your heart even after you repeatedly turn Him down. We are absolutely not perfect, and I don't want to be a Christian that tries to portray that. I really want to enjoy each and everyday of this experience, and not let anything distract me from the work I'm doing here.
Tomorrow we get to have a big barbecue with all the CCO's, and others that have worked with us this week. We will also be meeting with a state psychologist that specializes in sex offenders (EEEK). Apparently he is a huge deal, and I can't wait. Tomorrow is also our last day working with the DOC until we work in the prisons on our 4th week here. It's kinda a bummer, but this week has been an experience like no other. I will be taking back so much knowledge, and insight with me back home. I seriously could shadow the CCO's here everyday, and not get bored. The next two weeks will based more on ministry with the youth and homeless.
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