New Lynn probation chief sees gains, progress

LYNN – New Lynn District Court Chief Probation Officer Ronald Lennon hopes the 17 officers he supervises will spearhead a new program aimed at keeping individuals assigned to probation from repeating crimes by working more closely with them.Lennon is confident Lynn will be one of the district courts selected by top public safety officials to launch the program on a pilot basis.?We want to focus now on what is causing people problems and work with them,” Lennon said.The 61-year-old Lynn native and 33-year career probation officer is taking over the third busiest probation department in the state.State Probation Services spokeswoman Coria Holland said the Dorchester and Worcester probation departments are the first and second busiest in the state.The current Lynn probation office case load is 1,841, Holland said. The state-set annual salary range for Lennon?s job is $68,000 to $103,000.Probation is a set of restrictions placed by judges on individuals who are charged with crimes as well as convicted of crimes. Probation officers meet with those individuals and monitor them to ensure they are abiding by the restrictions.?We supervise people. We try to find out what are their problems and we try to figure out how to deal with those problems,” Lennon said.He said the state probation system for years has worked under a system that “does not provide a lot of leeway” for officers who try to get probationers to obey restrictions placed on them or risk being jailed.Along with the men and women he supervises, Lennon has trained for 10 months to learn how to use the system of engaging their clients in talking about their problems through different questioning styles.Throughout his career, he has seen individuals on probation change their lives and stop breaking the law.?You get a lot of satisfaction when people come up to you years later and say, ?You remember me?? You put people on the right path,” he said.The new method of working with probationers is just one of the changes introduced to the state probation system since last November when top state legislators and Gov. Deval Patrick reviewed a report detailing, in the words of a press release issued by Patrick?s office last December, “improper hiring practices at the probation department.”Career probation official Ronald Corbett took over as state probation commissioner in January.District Court First Justice Albert Conlon said the department used an “enormously open and fresh process” to hire Lennon. He competed for the chief?s job with 18 other candidates who, Corbett said, went through a multi-step interview process.?The hardest part in picking a chief was choosing among many excellent people,” Corbett said after Conlon swore Lennon in as chief on Thursday.Conlon said Lennon is the right man to introduce the new program aimed at reducing probation recidivism.?Ronnie has been on the ground floor since the model?s inception,” he said.Lennon is a Lynn native who solidified his interest in law enforcement as a student at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. When he returned to Massachusetts, former probation officer – now District Court assistant clerk magistrate – Daniel Day urged Lennon to go into probation work. Lennon said Day put him on the right career path.?I like working with people,” he said.