GLASGOW — A new partnership will help local law enforcement better deal with this area’s troubled youth.
The Barren County Sheriff’s Office will be working more closely with the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to provide additional supervision for local juvenile offenders following the signing of an agreement between the two agencies on Tuesday.
The Department of Juvenile Justice initiated the Juvenile Intensive Intensive Supervision Team (JIST) program in 1998 to allow DJJ community workers to collaborate with local law enforcement officials in supervising youth probated or committed to the department by the court system, according to information provided by DJJ.
The program, which was based on an initiative begun in Boston, was created to give increased supervision to probated youth considered to be at high risk.
Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton and several other local Barren County officials and representatives of the DJJ met in Barren Circuit Court at 10 a.m. Tuesday to finalize the partnership between the two entities.
Eaton said DJJ contacted him about participating in the program and, after he did some research, he realized it was a great opportunity because of its emphasis on local youth who are at risk.
Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner J. Ronald Haws, Deputy Commissioner of Community and Mental Health Sherre Smith-Jones, District Supervisor for Barren County Bruce Jennings and Director of Community and Mental Health Services Miranda Denny were among state officials who were present for the signing. Barren County Judge-Executive Davie Greer, District Judge John Alexander and County Attorney Jeff Sharp joined Eaton to represent the county.
Smith-Jones told the group the JIST program has been a successful method of keeping abreast of individuals who might otherwise get lost in the system and the mindset is not to just catch juveniles, but to find a way to prevent additional criminal activity.
Local law enforcement officers are given the opportunity to get to know juveniles a lot better and DJJ workers are allowed to go into homes more easily when they are partnered with officers, she said.
“It is a partnership,” Smith-Jones said. “It has grown and been successful in other parts of the state and we hope it will continue to grow. You will find it will be beneficial to you (in Barren County) as well as the Department of Juvenile Justice and we want this to be a long-term partnership.”
Eaton said he was pleased to have this additional avenue to work with juveniles and also wants the program to be successful locally.
“I was just ecstatic they chose us to partner with them because the youth are this community’s future” Eaton said.
Julie Younkin is the DJJ community caseworker assigned to work with the sheriff’s office. She will be working out of the department’s Bowling Green office and will partner locally with Deputy Bobby McCown.
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Partnership targets at-risk youth
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