What’s Really Happening to LA County Probation – and Why It Matters
Over the past 15 years, Los Angeles County has quietly waged a campaign to dismantle its unionized Probation Department – not because it’s failing, but because political leadership wants to replace it. Through hiring freezes, budget shifts, and misleading public narratives, the Board of Supervisors is stripping away the resources and authority of trained probation professionals and handing core responsibilities to the newly created Department of Youth Development (DYD) and unregulated contractors.
This isn’t reform – it’s replacement. And the result is a growing threat to public safety, workers’ rights, and the well-being of the very youth the system claims to protect.
Strategic Realignment
Over the past 15 years, Los Angeles County has shifted its youth and community justice strategy away from unionized public service toward privatized alternatives operating under the banners of "Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI)" and the "Department of Youth Development (DYD)." These changes are not neutral. They are part of a political realignment that abandons probation professionals in favor of unregulated contract networks.
Architects of the Shift
At the direction of the Board of Supervisors, CEO Fesia Davenport has embedded ATI and DYD into the foundation of LA County's public safety and budget systems. As a key leader in this transformation, she has overseen the redirection of public dollars from sworn officers to contract-based programs outside the union structure.
Hiring Freezes
The County has used hiring freezes as a strategic weapon to starve Probation of staffing and operational capacity. These freezes date back to the recession and have continued through COVID and the creation of DYD. The result: gutted staff levels, overworked officers, and the collapse of Juvenile Institutions Services.
Call Outs & Staffing Crisis
"Call outs" have been politicized to blame officers, when in reality they are the direct result of forced overtime, 16+ hour shifts, and chronic under-resourcing. Field officers are being pulled into juvenile halls, leaving thousands of high-risk individuals unsupervised in the community. Courts are being deprived of testimony. Yet the Board of Supervisors and their back room allies continue to frame this collapse as a workforce problem rather than the policy failure it is.
SB 357: Legalizing the Dismantling
SB 357 (Menjivar) is the legislative vehicle to formalize the dismantling of unionized probation. The bill allows the County to shift leadership of juvenile facilities from sworn officers to DYD – an unproven, non-union department with a troubling record of staff misconduct and no authority to detain youth. The result? Public safety in the hands of outsourced temp workers.
Rise of DYD
DYD was built using redirected Probation funds and exists outside civil service protections. It contracts heavily with politically connected CBOs and offers none of the training, accountability, or legal structure of a sworn department. Despite this, it is being positioned as the future of LA County youth justice – replacing Probation by design.
The Real Costs
6,000+ high-risk individuals unsupervised. Field offices stripped of staff. Public dollars diverted from federally funded roles. Morale decimated. Victims in fear. And communities left vulnerable. This isn’t reform. It’s replacement.
Our Demand: Restore, Don't Replace
We call on County and State leaders to end the politically motivated dismantling of Probation. Invest in staffing. End harmful redeployments. Audit misuse of grant-funded roles. Stop SB 357. And restore integrity and safety to our public justice system.