Audit: Sex offender monitoring inadequate

Legislative auditors Friday issued a report sharply critical of Parole and Probation, charging the division suffers major weaknesses in monitoring some of the most high-risk parolees, including sex offenders.

But P&P Chief John Gonska made no attempt to minimize the problems cited in the audit, saying, "We need to address all these things so they never occur again."

The audit found nearly a third of sex and other high-risk offenders didn't get timely assessments and reassessments required by law; that mandatory personal contacts with them didn't happen nearly a quarter of the time and that in only six of 27 cases where employers are required to be told about a sex offender was the employer actually told.

High-risk offenders are supposed to be assigned a case officer in 30 days after their release. They are required to receive two personal contacts each month by an officer and a reassessment of their situation and status every six months.

Auditors point out that when those things aren't done there is a much greater risk of problems that will send the offender back to prison, including committing a new crime.

Auditors said a review of 20 cases where the offender absconded showed that it took an average of 144 days to even prepare a violation report. In one case, it took 331 days before a violation report was done.

For sex offenders, the auditors said there also are serious problems in getting and properly entering DNA samples. Some times the DNA was taken but not entered in the system, others there was no DNA ever taken despite state law requiring it.

"If an offender commits another crime and DNA was previously ordered but not taken, the division could be held accountable," auditors wrote.

That and data entry errors, they pointed out, seriously reduce the usefulness of the database.

The report even criticizes the division's handling of restitution funds, saying even when inmates make the payments, the cash often doesn't get to the victims in a timely fashion. Auditors found $89,000 in the state account from 382 offenders, some dating to fiscal year 2000.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, both expressed concern about the deficiencies. But Gonska assured them he was working on "a comprehensive, coherent, complete plan to fix these things."

He said he was committing more staff to the high risk offenders to ensure public safety.

Coffin asked if the budget cuts and hiring freeze were part of the problem, but Gonska assured him he would ask for funding for all the positions he needs. He said the Legislature gave him 35 new positions last session but with those and empty existing posts, he has about 50 vacancies right now.

Coffin urged him to take the issue straight to Gov. Jim Gibbons and ask an exemption so he can fill those slots.

"This is a horrible outcome from what I call an unauthorized budget cut," he said. "This was a bad place to freeze positions."

He said there is money in the Rainy Day Fund to pay for those positions and, when Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, pointed out that money can't be touched without a special session, Coffin blurted out an expletive.

The audit subcommittee voted to accept the report and asked Gonska to return with an update in two months.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.