News

Probation check-in kiosks save millions for NYC police

July 27, 2003

NEW YORK CITY -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been under pressure to balance the city's budget without slashing services. The Department of Corrections is one place the Bloomberg administration has studied to see where technology can be used to save money.

For instance, the probation department recently cut 41 jobs, saving $2 million, by allowing 25,000 lesser-risk convicts to check in at automated kiosks set up in the five boroughs, instead of with probation officers, according to a report in The New York Times.

And some officials argue that restructuring has actually improved service. At the probation department, those guilty of low-level offenses are required to check in according to a mandated schedule. Instead of seeing an officer, they can visit a kiosk that confirms their presence by electronically reading the shape of a probationer's hand.

That means the city's probation officers, relieved of having to meet regularly with the 25,000 or so people convicted of crimes like assault or fraud, can spend more time on the 9,600 serious criminals on probation.

Regular reporting by lesser-risk probationers is up, since many of them know that the computerized system allows the city to keep better track of them and to more quickly penalize those who do not report, the story said.