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Dear Editor, 

The Virginia Department of Corrections celebrated its Probation and Parole Officers during Virginia Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week (July 14-20) and will also observe the national PPPS Week (July 21-27). I encourage all Virginians to do the same. You might not personally know a Probation and Parole Officer, but you feel their contributions to long-term public safety every day. 

Our officers are at the forefront of public safety. Their actions directly keep those who live, work in, and visit the Commonwealth safe from criminal activity by providing effective supervision of probationers and parolees across Virginia. This completely aligns with the agency’s mission of long-term public safety. Additionally, VADOC Probation and Parole Officers provide guidance, tools, and resources to supervisees. This directly leads to Virginia’s consistently high success rate for reentry.

Probation and Parole Districts across the Commonwealth also do much more than provide effective supervision for the more than 61,000 supervisees in Virginia. Districts and our corrections team members are true servants of their community, providing money, volunteer hours, and collaboration to schools, community resource centers, and partner law enforcement agencies.

Thank a Probation and Parole Officer for their service. It’s a simple gesture, especially for the services they provide this great Commonwealth.

Judge (Ret.) Chadwick S. Dotson

Director, Virginia Department of Corrections