Roundup results in arrests
By John Joyce
Published in News on June 6, 2013 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro Partners Against Crime community initiative to stop violent crime moved into its second phase today.
The Goldsboro Police Department and the Division of Probation and Parole conducted a roundup beginning at 5 a.m. bringing in past offenders who have once again violated parole.
By 9:30 a.m., a total of 11 had been arrested.
More arrests were expected throughout the morning.
"Everything that happened then is happening now," GPAC coordinator Sgt. Teresa Chiero said.
She was referring to the call-in held at City Hall on March 19.
At that call-in, a group of offenders was brought before law enforcement, community members and members of courts to be warned -- change your ways or pay for your crimes with full sentences.
Today's roundup was more of the same, but without the fanfare.
"Some of them are violent (offenders), some are not, some are in for felonies, some for misdemeanors," Sgt. Chiero said.
The offenders brought in today will be offered the same consequences and the same opportunities as the last group.
"We can help them get their GEDs, with substance abuse, get them jobs, medical assistance," she added.
There are plenty of services and people in the community available to the offenders, but they will also be made aware that they are now on a "watch list."
Their names are added to a national registry, which will notify Sgt. Chiero of any time they are contacted by law enforcement. Any interaction, whether an arrest or not, will come across her desk.
"The first call I'm going to make is to your probation officer," she told one offender.
But she left it up to the offender to decide whether it comes to that.