Probation Officer Exonerated, Reinstated

Thanks to the persistence of paralegal/investigator Sandi Harbottle and the efforts of LDF attorney Barry Bennett, from the Fresno firm of Bennett & Sharpe, Kings County Probation Officer Tracy Kaufman is back to work, cleared of all charges. Contrary to the old saying, “A good deed went unpunished,” finally. A six-year officer with virtually no discipline on her record, Kaufman was terminated by her department for going out of her way to help a juvenile crime victim. While some of Kaufman’s co-workers questioned her judgment in spending her free time with a teenage girl, Kaufman saw it as a way to help a victim and her family endure the criminal process. Her department, which never even asked Kaufman about her off-duty activities with the girl, apparently concluded that there was something improper about the friendship. Even after a criminal investigation showed no evidence of wrongdoing, the department terminated Kaufman anyway.

Kaufman had worked in the Adult Court Unit for only a short time when she was assigned to write a pre-sentencing report on an adult school employee who had pled to unlawful sex with the minor. In the course of preparing her report, Kaufman interviewed the victim’s mother, who at first did not want her daughter involved in the report since there had already been a great deal of local publicity about the case. When the teenaged victim began to complain about not knowing what was going on, the mother relented, and Kaufman was able to interview the girl.

The two of them struck up a friendship, and Kaufman worked with the mother and the girl, using some of the mentoring skills she had been encouraged by the department to use when she had worked as a school probation officer and at the county’s juvenile boot camp. Thanks to Kaufman, the girl, and her family reconciled, and the victim became a successful student and got her act together. Kaufman made no secret of her friendship with the victim and her family.

Unbeknownst to Kaufman, however, rumors came to the department that there was something wrong with Kaufman voluntarily spending her off-duty time with a victim. While the department may have been understandably concerned about the victim’s vulnerability, it apparently never occurred to administration to ask Kaufman what was going on. Instead, the department put Kaufman under surveillance and had a Hanford police detective initiate a criminal investigation of Kaufman. When the parents and teenager all confirmed that there was nothing amiss about the friendship, the criminal investigation concluded.

In the meantime, the chief of probation and two of his assistant chiefs had pounded on Kaufman’s door when she was home ill, insisted on entering, and took all of Kaufman’s gear. Kaufman was told she would be fired, and probably prosecuted (no reason was given), but that if she resigned she would be OK. Shaken and confused by this “home invasion,” Kaufman submitted her resignation the next day. Fortunately, after her sister advised her to get legal advice, Kaufman called LDF and was referred to Bennett & Sharpe. After the law firm threatened to seek injunctive relief for the violations of Kaufman’s POBR and constitutional rights, the resignation was immediately rescinded.

The department then terminated Kaufman for violating the department’s alleged “long-standing policy” about improper contact with victims. When the matter went to arbitration, however, the department was unable to show that there was any policy or practice regarding victim contact. Harbottle, an ex-deputy sheriff, and DA investigator found many witnesses who contradicted any claim that a policy or practice existed, as well as several employees who corroborated Kaufman’s recollection of events.

The department also accused Kaufman, who had known the suspect briefly at a school they both worked at, of failing to disclose their acquaintance to the department. Harbottle also located several witnesses from the school, who attested to the fact that there had been no real acquaintance between Kaufman and the suspect. Finally, an allegation that Kaufman had violated a direct order to stay away from the teenager was found disproven when the department’s administrators could not agree on who gave the order or what was required.

Arbitrator David Nevins ordered full back pay and benefits for Kaufman, and that all records of the discipline be removed from her personnel file. After a nightmarish six months of wondering whether her chosen career was over, Kaufman was glad to be vindicated and looking forward to going back to work. Like other law enforcement personnel, probation officers may find their judgment questioned, and LDF representation certainly made a major difference in this case.