Michael F. Easley
Governor

Theodis Beck
Secretary

North Carolina Department of Correction

YANCEYVILLE--Stephanie Wilson kind of stumbled on a career as a probation and parole officer. A 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, she was working in Greensboro when she heard about an opening for a probation and parole officer in Caswell County.

"I said, ‘what the heck, it’s in my field and it sounds interesting,"’ said Wilson, who has a degree in criminal justice. "I didn’t know a soul in Caswell County, but my co-workers took me under their wings and showed me the ropes."

Now Wilson is a recognizable face in Caswell County. With 80-90 offenders on her caseload at any given time, she keeps pretty busy with home visits, office visits, processing offenders sentenced to probation and verifying compliance with conditions of probation. In addition, she is the school partnership resource officer, which means she handles all young offenders whose probation conditions include attending high school or community college. She works with teachers, counselors and principals to monitor attendance and academic performance.

After four years in Caswell County, Wilson is glad she took a chance and became a probation and parole officer. While a lot of her colleagues have moved on to more populated counties, Wilson is happy where she is.

"If I’m going to work in community corrections, it will be in Caswell County," she said. "I know the people—the offenders, their families, law enforcement officers and court personnel—and they know me. I like working here."

Governor Michael F. Easley has proclaimed July 14-20, 2002 Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Officers’ Week in recognition of more than 2,000 community supervision officers who help protect public safety by supervising approximately 116,000 offenders on probation, parole or post-release supervision in North Carolina communities.